Pope meets Russia envoy; decrees Ukraine-based priest martyr

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has met with a top official of the Russian Orthodox Church ahead of an expected meeting next month in Kazakhstan with the Russian Orthodox leader, Patriarch Kirill. The audience was the first between Francis and the new director of the Moscow Patriarchate’s foreign relations office, Metropolitan Anthony. The audience came on the same day the pope made a symbolically meaningful decision for some Ukrainian Catholics: He declared an underground Ruthenian Greek Catholic priest who ministered in Ukraine and was killed by Soviet forces a martyr. The designation means the Rev. Petros Oros is being fast-tracked on the path to possible sainthood.