Monsignor Celestino Migliore, Vatican undersecretary for relations with states, met with Alexei Mechkov, Russian Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, at the ministry’s headquarters today.
According to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the meeting, organized in the course of “regular consultations” between Russia and the Vatican, also addressed international questions, such as the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and the Iraqi crisis.
The Vatican and Russia have special relations and exchange representatives. The representative of Rome was Archbishop Giorgio Zur, the apostolic nuncio, who was appointed nuncio in Austria on Oct. 8. His successor has yet to be appointed.
A Catholic bishop and five priests were expelled from Russia in the months following John Paul II’s decision last February to establish four dioceses in the federation.
