Pope Francis has asked to meet with Putin

Pope Francis has asked to meet with Putin.

Pope Francis says he has offered to travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss aggression in Ukraine, but has not yet received a response.

The pope told that he had sent a message to the Kremlin 20 days after the start of the Russian aggression, through the Vatican chief diplomat.

This is the first time the Pope has mentioned Russia or publicly mentioned Putin’s name since the start of the aggression in Ukraine more than two months ago.

The pope also said he had recently had a 40-minute phone call with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“Patriarch Kirill supports the war and spent the first 20 minutes of the phone call reading all the excuses for it,” he told.

The pope added that the patriarch could not become Putin’s lawyer.