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       VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV held a first meeting on Saturday with a senior Russian Orthodox cleric at the Vatican since becoming the head of the Catholic church earlier this year, the Vatican said without giving further details.

       Pope Leo — who has called on the Kremlin to make a “gesture” towards peace in Ukraine — received Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, the head of external relations at the Russian Orthodox Church.

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       Relations between the Vatican and Moscow has been frosty for centuries.

       The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has sanctified Moscow’s Ukraine invasion, which he has described as a “holy war.”

       But Moscow had a dialogue with the late Pope Francis, widely criticised in Ukraine, with Metropolitan Anthony hold around a dozen meetings with the Argentinian pontiff.

       The Russian cleric told Italian newspaper La Repubblica days before the meeting that Pope Francis had a “balanced approach” on Ukraine, while he did not know Leo’s stance yet.

       Pope Leo is the first American pope. He took over the church at a time when the United States is pushing for peace in Ukraine, in efforts that have so far yielded few results to stop the three-year war.

       Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2025