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Pope Francis, the 267th Roman Pope, has died in Rome. He was 88. Catholic Cardinals from around the world will now be making their way to Rome to appoint a successor. Russia maintains official relations with the Vatican: Rome has an apostolic nunciature in Moscow, and the Russian Federation is represented at the Holy See by a diplomat with the rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.
As the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest organization of Eastern Orthodoxy, Holy See–Russia relations partly reflect Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church relations. The two churches split apart into two different factions in 1054, in an event known as the “Great Schism” following centuries of different opinions on matters of theological, political, as well as cultural differences.
The Holy See and Russia established full diplomatic relations in December 2009 following meetings between Pope Benedict XVI and then-Russian President Dimitry Medvedev. Current President Vladimir Putin also helped to arrange meetings between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill at Havana, Cuba in 2016. That resulted in the two promulgating a joint declaration denouncing the persecution of Christians.
There have been attempts to organise a Papal tour of Russia, however there are divisions between the two churches, with Pope Francis declaring support for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is pro-Kiev and has been responsible for dismantling Russian Orthodox Churches in Ukraine.
Nevertheless, relations between Pope Francis and President Putin remained cordial, with the Russian President meeting the Pope in the Vatican in 2019.
Future bilateral relations will depend upon the policy of the new elected Pope, with the Papal Conclave to vote on the matter to be held in Rome next month.
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