MOSCOW - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin are striving to ease tensions between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church.
He suggested Putin could meet with Pope John Paul II when the Russian leader visits Italy in November. Although it would not be their first meeting, it would be a symbolically significant gesture.
John Paul has made healing the 1,000-year-old schism with the Orthodox Church a key effort of his papacy, visiting several mostly Orthodox nations and expressing regret for the wrongs committed by the Catholic Church against Orthodox Christians.
The pope also has often expressed a desire to visit Russia, but hasn't come because of objections from the Russian Orthodox Church. Orthodox leaders resent what they see as Catholic attempts to poach converts in Russia.
"Both of us are trying to do all we can so that relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican move forward toward cooperation and mutual understanding," Berlusconi said.
He added that he hoped Putin would be able to meet with the pope this fall when the Russian president goes to Rome for a meeting with European Union leaders.
Putin did not comment on the prospect of visiting the pope, whom he met with in June 2000 at the Vatican. Vatican officials were not immediately available for comment.
A Russian Orthodox spokesman declined to comment on a possible pope-Putin meeting, saying it didn't concern his church.
Berlusconi and Putin also discussed bilateral relations as well as Russia's ties with the EU, of which Italy is the current chairman.