he four-day visit — the first of its kind since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 — is another step in a deepening relationship that began in September 2013, when Francis wrote an open letter to Putin, who was chairing the G20, to express his opposition to a U.S. military intervention in Syria.
In that letter, “the Pope asked Putin to pray for him, and it seems this line touched Putin,” said Andrea Riccardi, the founder of the Rome-based Sant’Egidio community, a humanitarian organization that sometimes serves as an unofficial arm of Vatican diplomacy.
The request — unusual for a diplomatic letter — was a recognition of the Christian identity Putin has assiduously cultivated. Putin no doubt also appreciated the Pope’s message given that the Kremlin was one of the more vocal critics of U.S. military action in Syria. [...]
For Putin, a visible relationship with the Vatican is an opportunity to highlight Russia’s effort to portray itself as a bulwark of morality and traditional values in contrast to an increasingly secularized Europe.
Like hosting the Winter Olympics in 2014 or football’s World Cup next year, the friendly ties with the Vatican are a way of showing the Kremlin is not isolated, even as it remains under sanctions. An open line to the Vatican also helps the Kremlin maintain its relationship with Italy, still one of Russia’s biggest friends in the European Union. [...]
“Like Trump, Francis faces criticism from his base over his Russia policy,” wrote John L. Allen, author of several books on the Vatican and Catholic affairs. “Many Catholics charge him and the Vatican with excessive ‘ecumenical correctness,’ insisting that he should be more outspoken on Ukraine.”
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