Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill
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VATICAN CITY — On Friday, the Vatican announced that, while on his way to Mexico, Pope Francis will stop in Cuba to meet with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in the first meeting between a pope and a leader of the Russian Orthodox Church since the Great Schism 1,000 years ago.
“The Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow are pleased to announce that, by the grace of God, His Holiness Pope Francis and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will meet on Feb. 12 next,” a joint Feb. 5 press release from the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church read.
Kirill, patriarch of Moscow and all Russian and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, will arrive in Havana Feb. 11 for an official visit to South America. His Feb. 11-22 visit includes stops in Cuba, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay.
Pope Francis himself will arrive at Havana’s José Martí International Airport the next day, while on his way to Mexico, where he will be on an official visit until Feb. 17.
The Pope will be greeted by both the patriarch and Cuban President Raul Castro at the airport. From there, they will head to the presidential room of the airport, where Francis and Kirill will have a lengthy private conversation and sign a joint declaration.
In the press release, it was noted that the encounter is the fruit of “a long preparation,” and will be “the first in history and will mark an important stage in relations between the two churches.”
While Roman pontiffs have met with other Orthodox Church leaders, this marks the first time a pope has met with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch since the Eastern Churches split with Rome during the Great Schism of 1054.
Both the Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate expressed their hope that the meeting “will also be a sign of hope for all people of goodwill” and invited all Christians “to pray fervently for God to bless this meeting, that it may bear good fruits.”
In a Feb. 5 press briefing on the encounter, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told journalists that when Pope Francis arrives in Havana, he will be greeted with the usual protocol.
Among those present to greet the Pope when he lands, in addition to Castro, are Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, as well as the president of the Cuban bishops’ conference, Archbishop Dionisio García Ibáñez of Santiago de Cuba.
The private meeting between the two faith leaders is expected to last “a couple of hours,” Father Lombardi said, noting that the time allotted for the encounter lasts from around 2:15-4:25pm. Afterward, they will head to a separate room to sign a joint declaration and exchange gifts.
Two interpreters will assist in the conversation: one in Spanish and one in Russian. The declaration, however, will be drafted in Russian and Italian.
Once the joint declaration has been signed and the gifts exchanged, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill will each give short speech. The Pope will give his speech in Spanish, and the patriarch will speak in Russian.
According to the Vatican spokesman, the speeches will not be long and complicated, but more like a “spontaneous expression of their feelings for this beautiful occasion.”
Delegations from both the Pope and the patriarch, consisting of roughly 10-15 people each, will be presented before Francis boards the plane again around 5:30pm, bound for Mexico. Both Patriarch Kirill and President Castro will see him off.
Father Lombardi said that while the stop in Havana has been added, Pope Francis’ trip to Mexico has otherwise not been modified, and he should stay on schedule.
Also present for the encounter in Cuba will be Hilarion Alfeyev, who currently serves as metropolitan of Volokolamsk, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations and a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
In an interview with Corriere della Sera in June 2015, Metropolitan Hilarion hinted that a possible meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill could be close. He told the agency that “such a meeting is getting closer every day, but it must be well prepared.”
Father Lombardi confirmed that meeting between the two was “not improvised,” but has, in fact, been in the works “for a long time ... a couple of years.”
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