Pope to Kazakhstan Sept. 13-15, may meet Russia patriarch

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — The Vatican says Pope Francis will travel next month to Kazakhstan. It’s possible that he could meet there with Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church who has justified Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The Vatican says Francis will attend an interfaith conference in the Kazakh capital from Sept. 13-15. Francis called off a planned encounter with Kirill in June in Jerusalem because of the diplomatic fallout it would have created. Kirill has justified the invasion of Ukraine on spiritual and ideological grounds. The Kazakh government is hosting a religious congress and invited Kirill, and the Moscow Patriarchate says he will attend.