Putin to Meet With Pope at End of Month

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the day that the meeting, to take place during Putin’s planned November 25-26 visit to Italy, was being considered.

It will be the first meeting between Putin and Pope Francis, although the Russian leader previously met the pope's predecessors Benedict XVI and the late John Paul II.

In September, the pontiff wrote a letter to Putin, who was then presiding over the G20 group of leading global powers, appealing to him to prevent possible military action in Syria and find a peaceful solution to the civil war there.