Following the celebration of the Christmas liturgy on January 7, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke warmly of Pope Francis and relations with the Catholic Church.

“I would like to thank our guests, Catholic Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, who is here in Moscow,” said Patriarch Kirill. “I thank you for the message from Pope Francis that you conveyed to me. I appreciate very much those kind relations between us and hopefully, these relations will translate into many and many kind[s of] joint actions, including those aimed at achieving peace where there is no peace today.”