Pope Francis Meets with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan.

Pope Francis greeted Metropolitan Anthony, chairman for external church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, after his weekly public audience on Wednesday. The encounter comes amid heightened scrutiny of diplomatic signals involving the Holy See’s desire to broker a peaceful settlement to the ongoing fighting in Ukraine. In his press conference Sunday, the pope told reporters that the Holy See is involved in a secret peace mission to end the conflict. Both Ukrainian and Russian officials were quick to deny that negotiations were taking place, but a close papal aide confirmed the pope’s statement in an interview with an Italian news outlet published Wednesday.