Private Audience: Russian President to Meet with the Pope
The Vatican yesterday 8th November 2013 confirmed that Pope Francis will be meeting the Russian President Vladimir Putin in a private audience scheduled to take place in the afternoon of November 25 2013.
President Putin has recently been defending Christianity both domestically and internationally, most notably in his vocal defense of persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Like the Vatican, he also sought to prevent escalation of the conflict in Syria after a chemical weapons attack in August.
Dmitry Medvedev was the most recent Russian president to meet a pope. He had a half hour meeting with Benedict XVI at the Vatican in February 2011. During Benedict XVI’s pontificate, Russia established full diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 2009.