Russian Orthodox Church Leader Ends Historic Latin American Tour

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, wrapped up his Latin American tour and departed from the capital of Brazil to Russia, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported Sunday.

BRASILIA (Sputnik) – The destinations on Patriarch Kirill’s February 11-21 trip included Cuba, Paraguay, Brazil and a Russian station on an island off the coast of Antarctica. There at the Bellingshausen station on King George Island (Waterloo island in Russian), photographs of the Patriarch visiting a penguin colony drew widespread online and media attention.

The patriarch previously visited Brazil in 2008, as then-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations.

This year, Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis held historic talks in Havana on February 12, issuing a joint declaration urging global action to stop the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

The meeting was hailed as a milestone because it marked the first time a Catholic pope and an Orthodox patriarch met since Christianity split into western and eastern branches in 1054.