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VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis has met with the foreign minister of the Russian Orthodox Church ahead of a Nov. 25 visit to the Vatican by President Vladimir Putin.
The Vatican released no details of Tuesday's meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion, in Rome for a Catholic-Orthodox conference on family values.
Simultaneously in Moscow, a top Italian cardinal involved in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue, Cardinal Angelo Scola, met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.
While there was no word about any possible meeting between Kirill and Francis _ long-sought by the Vatican _ officials say it's likely Francis will meet the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, in Jerusalem in the first half of 2014.
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