After almost a thousand years that have failed to bring about any meeting between the head of the Catholic Church and the head of Russian Orthodox Church, a plane heading from the Vatican and another one heading from Moscow touched down in Cuba to pave the way for a meeting between the leaders of the two Churches, namely Pope Francis and Patriarch Krill. The Cuban island has become one of the symbols of global reconciliation.

Pope Francis’ long prayer before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a key to interpreting the Pope’s pilgrimage to the Central American country.

Francis celebrates mass at the Area of the Fair in Ciudad Juarez, after praying in silence facing the chain link fence that marks the US-Mexico border: "They are the brothers and sisters of those excluded as a result of poverty and violence, drug trafficking and criminal organizations. Being faced with so many legal vacuums, they get caught up in a web that ensnares and always destroys the poorest. Enslaved, imprisoned and extorted, they are the consequence of a trade in human beings”

Six years after the United Nation’s adoption of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s proposal to mark a week of harmony among religions (on the first week of February), I believe it is incumbent to focus every year on specific issues instead of reiterating the views annually addressed to the local population, in particular. On the other hand, our “expressed views” are mostly intended to denote that we are "brethren" and that "harmony" among the followers of religions would come true, thus we look for terms that corroborate this view.

Not a church, not a monastery, not an apostolic palace or a patriarchal curia. Pope Francis and Russia’s Patriarch Kirill are to meet in a room at Havana’s international airport. But, as Alexander Shchipkov, one of Kirill’s closest collaborators pointed out, “the airport is a symbolic crossroads. And when people meet at a crossroads, their encounters are brief, yet sincere and profound”. At a crossroads, people tend to speak “frankly” about “the things of greatest importance”.

In the joint declaration signed by Francis and Kirill, the two express their common concern for Christians undergoing persecution and they ask the international community to help them. They also focus on migrants and refugees and announce a common commitment to combating poverty. They establish a clear distinction between family and other forms of cohabitation and make an appeal for life: “blood of the unborn cries out to God”. The two religious leaders also call for Christian unity for the good of humanity.

The first, historic meeting between a Pope and a Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church does not come from nowhere. Both the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate and the Holy See have been working on such an event for decades.

In at least three cases under recent Popes, such a meeting seemed about to take place. Once under St. John Paul II and twice under Benedict XVI. But then nothing happened.

Why, then, did the February 11 meeting suddenly become possible? There are at least four different reasons.

The need to counter anti-Christian persecution

The Pope is going to Mexico from 12 to 18 February as a “missionary of mercy and peace” and to embrace “the suffering” in particular. Francis himself explained this in a video-message to Mexicans.

Pope Francis has made urgent appeal for Syrian peace talks, political solution
At Sunday's Angelus, February 7, Francis prayed for a political solution to the conflict and for civilian populations. But he also spoke about the “intolerable shame” of human trafficking and “a renewed commitment in favour of human life from conception to natural death".

Pope Francis strongly called on the international community to find a way to facilitate negotiations among the warring parties in Syria, saying he is watching the struggles of civilians there with much worry.

One of the points in the joint declaration that is to be signed in Cuba on February 12 is “the problem of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, secularisation, the defence of life, marriage and the family and other issues of common interest”. Fr. Hyacinthe Destivelle of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said this in a statement to Vatican Radio.