Pope Francis meets with Metropolitan Hilarion

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, President of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, visited Rome from 3‒6 October in the context of the “Faith and Science: Towards COP26” meeting and the Global Compact on Education promoted by the Congregation for Catholic Education.

Metropolitan Hilarion was received in a private audience with Pope Francis on 6 October. At the end of the meeting, he presented to the Holy Father the gift of a publication entitled “Molitva”, the Russian language translation of the Holy Father’s book “La preghiera” (“Prayer”), with a preface by Patriarch Kirill, which was published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana in 2019.  Commenting on the book, in an interview with Vatican News, Metropolitan Hilarion affirmed: “The experience of prayer is something that unites all Christians. And the lessons that Pope Francis imparts to his flock are of value to Russian readers”. The book, which will be shortly launched in Russia, is an initiative of the Joint Working Group for Cultural Projects between the Holy See and the Moscow Patriarchate.

During his stay in Rome, Metropolitan Hilarion also met with Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, at the offices of the Dicastery.

^{Photo © Servizio Fotografico | Vatican Media}