East meets West: Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis to talk in Cuba



East will join West on February 12, 2016, in a historic meeting between the heads of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches.

Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis will hold talks in Cuba in what could be a significant step towards healing a millenium-long rift between Christianity’s eastern and western branches.

The Russian Orthodoxy numbers around a 165 million of 250 million Orthodox Christians internationally.

Cuban President Raul Castro brokered the meeting, which will include several hours of private talks at Havana airport, speeches and the signing of a joint statement, Pope Francis announced.

Vatican spokesperson, Father Federico Lombardi hailed the forthcoming reunion.

“This meeting of the Primates of the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, after a long preparation, will be the first in history and will mark an important stage in relations between the two Churches. The Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate hope that it will also be a sign of hope for all people of good will,” he said.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-01-06

Is this Kirill any relation to the unfortunate deceased farang up in Chiang Mai that was defrauded out of his elephant sanctuary, and found dead in a grotty guesthouse, before the case was closed.

This report as with the BBC coverage this morning gives the totally erroneous impression that the Pope represents all western Christianity which he most certainly does not.

Edited February 6, 201610 yr by NongKhaiKid

Got to love those hats, though.

This report as with the BBC coverage this morning gives the totally erroneous impression that the Pope represents all western Christianity which he most certainly does not.

When you are start talking about Western Christianity I guess that you mean Protestants that are about 800 million people divided in to 9 different mayor branches with each branch having around 40-50 different subbranches and each and every subbranch has it's own highest leader:

Southern Baptist Convention, 15,7 million congregates and Dr. Ronnie Floyd as its leader.

United Church of Canada, 2,5 million congregates and led by a council.

United Methodist Church, 12,1 million congregates and led by a council of bishops.

Seventh day Adventist Church, 18,1 million congregates and Ted N.C. Wilson as its leader.

Compare that with the Pope who represents the Catholic church with 1,2 billion congregates and the Patriarch who represent about 200 million people...

According to my orthodox friend, cottonbeard has been consumed by the heresy of Papism for quite a while

My fairy story is better than yours

Kirill should send Putin the deus ex machina in his place.