Russian Church’s Metropolitan Hilarion meets with Pope Francis in Vatican

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, had a private audience with Pope Francis on Friday, TASS reports. The metropolitan told the news agency on Thursday that he planned to discuss the situation involving the non-canonical churches in Ukraine and relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. “We do not expect the pope to intervene in this situation or try to sort it out,” he said. “However, I will brief him on the decision made by our Holy Synod.” The Vatican provided no details about the meeting. On Thursday, Metropolitan Hilarion addressed the Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church. The metropolitan is on a working visit in Rome with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.