Meeting planned between Pope Francis and Russia’s patriarch

VATICAN CITY, Holy See — Pope Francis met with a top aide to Russian Patriarch Kirill in the Vatican Wednesday, with the Moscow church saying a meeting between the spiritual leaders is being planned for 2022.

It would be the pair's second meeting, after they held a historic summit in Cuba in 2016. The plans come as tensions between Moscow and the West are soaring over Ukraine.

"This morning, the Pope met with Metropolit Hilarion Alfeyev," the head of the Holy See's press office Matteo Bruni, said in a statement.

The pair spoke for about an hour "in a brotherly spirit" and discussed "subjects of common concern," he said.

Hilarion then told the Russian state news agency TASS that a meeting between Francis and Kirill is in the works for 2022.

Francis said this month that he was even ready to go to Moscow—where no Pope has ever been—to meet Kirill.

In early December, Francis said that a meeting with Kirill was on "a horizon that is not far."

The pair's meeting in Cuba was the first encounter between the heads of the two largest Christian churches since Christianity split into Western and Eastern branches in the 11th Century—an event known as "The Great Schism."

Ukraine's religious leaders have this month also expressed hope that Francis could visit Kiev.

After meeting Pope Francis in November, the head of Ukraine's Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk said such a visit could help end the war in eastern Ukraine.

"We expect this visit to Ukraine to take place next year," Shevchuk said, quoted by the press service of his church in early December.

Moscow's Bishop Hilarion shot down the initiative, saying he doubted the Vatican would approve such a trip. — Agence France-Presse