Putin to discuss Syrian peace process with Pope Francis

Syrian settlement prospects will be an item on the agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican on November 25.

“The issue will be touched upon at the audience with the Pontiff,” Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to Voice of Russia.

Pope Francis sent a message to Putin before the G20 St. Petersburg summit of September 2013 to laud Russia’s chairmanship in the Group of Twenty and to oppose the use of force in the settlement of the crisis in Syria.

“The message created a constructive background for the discussion of the crisis in Syria at the St. Petersburg meeting of the G20 leaders. Interesting and rather positive developments occurred later on, in the light of the initiatives put forward by our president,” the Kremlin representative observed.

In the earlier period, Putin met with Pope John Paul II in 2000 and 2003 and with Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.

M.D