MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Pope Francis played a substantial role in building communication between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, said Hieromonk Stefan Igumnov, a spokesman at the Moscow Patriarchat.
"Communication between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church has been developing quite rapidly at all levels in recent years. The sides have engaged on a wide range of issues, including cooperation in the humanitarian area. The personality of Pope Francis was of significant importance in the development of that cooperation," he told TASS.
Igumnov said a meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in Havana in 2016 laid the groundwork for the cooperation.
"The Department for External Church Relations hopes that cooperation will continue to develop despite the difficult circumstances that the modern world, including Christians, is experiencing," he said.
The Holy See said earlier on Monday that Pope Francis has died at the age of 88. On March 23, Francis was discharged from the hospital, where he had spent nearly 40 days. He had been treated for a complicated form of pneumonia and, as his doctors later reported, risked dying twice. The pontiff was ordered to have two months of complete rest, but he began briefly leaving his residence in the former Vatican hotel of St. Martha’s to visit St. Peter’s Basilica. On Sunday, the head of the Roman Catholic Church drove the papal car through a square full of worshippers.
Francis himself has described the funeral ritual, simplifying the procedures. He wished to be buried in the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which he always visited for prayers, especially before and after foreign visits.