Russia’s Putin to visit Pope Francis June 10 at the Vatican

Russia’s Putin to visit Pope Francis June 10 at the Vatican

Russia’s Putin to visit Pope Francis June 10 at the Vatican.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Pope Francis on June 10 at the Vatican, with conflicts in Syria and Ukraine likely to top the Holy See’s agenda.

Putin last called on Francis on Nov. 25, 2013.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Thursday the meeting would take place in the afternoon of June 10; Putin is expected to visit Russia’s pavilion at the Expo world’s fair in Milan, where June 10 has been slated as Russia’s national day.

After nearly a half-century of hostility between the Vatican and the Kremlin during the Cold War, a major breakthrough came just after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 when the Soviet president, Mikhail Gorbachev, met the Polish-born pontiff, John Paul II.

After a 2009 visit by then-President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia and the Holy See upgraded their diplomatic relations to full-fledged ties, with ambassadors.

Long-running tensions in Russia between Orthodox and Catholic faithful in Russia prevented Pope Benedict XVI and before him John Paul fro