Pope and patriarch enter 'shared labor'

After two years of secret talks aimed at healing ties broken during the Great Schism of 1054, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, met in Cuba.

It was the first time in history that the leader of the Catholic Church has met with a Russian patriarch.

“It is with joy that we have met like brothers in the Christian faith,” the patriarch and pope wrote in a joint statement, “to discuss the mutual relations between the churches, the crucial problems of our faithful, and the outlook for the progress of human civilization.”