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Most popular Russia and former Soviet Union
Pope to meet with Russian president
Nov 26, 2009 at 15:58The planned meeting on Dec. 3 follows improvements in relations between Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican.
Medvedev will also hold talks with Premier Silvio Berlusconi during his one-day visit to Rome.
Decades of tensions between Catholic and Orthodox faithful prevented the late John Paul II from making a papal pilgrimage to Russia.
Vatican officials say the improved Orthodox-Catholic relations mean a papal trip to Moscow is now closer, but that no such trip is yet on Benedict's schedule.