INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Pope Francis has announced that a meeting set for June with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has
been canceled so as not to sow "confusion."The two men, who had a first, historic, meeting in Cuba in 2016, had been due for further talks
in Jerusalem.But Francis told Argentina's La Nacion newspaper the encounter was called off because "our diplomacy felt that a meeting at
who represents some 150 million faithful or half the world's Orthodox population, were "very good."Their meeting in 2016 was the first
between the leaders of the two biggest Christian denominations in nearly a thousand years.Dialogue with the Orthodox Church, which separated
from the Catholic Church in 1054, is a stated priority of Francis's pontificate.But since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the
two men have been on opposing sides.The Pope last week called for peace and denounced a "cruel and senseless war."Kirill has defended
Putin's "military operation" and the fight against Russia's "external and internal enemies."The two men held video talks on Ukraine in March
and urged negotiations for a "just peace."Yet shortly after the start of the war, Kirill called Moscow's opponents in Ukraine "evil forces."
