As Pope Meets Putin, Expectations High for Syria Resolution

Francis has met with more than a dozen heads of state or government as pontiff, and Putin has met with both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II. But this meeting stands out. It’s been just four years since full diplomatic ties were re-established between Russia and the Holy See, set against a backdrop of centuries of tension between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Now, because of the period of reform Francis has ushered in at the Vatican, and a list of priorities that range from Syria to a desire to strengthen ties between the world’s largest country and one of the smallest, the Nov. 25 closed-door encounter will take on a dramatically increased importance.

“The last time a meeting at the Vatican has outweighed this one in terms of importance was in 1989, when Mikhail Gorbachev met John Paul II as the Cold War was drawing to a close,” said Franco Pavoncello, a political scientist and president of Rome’s John Cabot University.