Medvedev to have first meeting with pope next week

Medvedev's predecessor, then-president Vladimir Putin, met Benedict XVI for the first time in the Vatican in 2007.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet Pope Benedict XVI for the first time when he visits the Vatican during his trip to Italy on December 3, the Kremlin said Thursday.

- The Russian president will pay a brief visit to the Vatican - where he will have a discussion with the pope, the Kremlin said in a statement.

- This will be the first official meeting - between the current Kremlin chief and Benedict, a Kremlin spokesman told AFP.

Medvedev's predecessor, then-president Vladimir Putin, met Benedict XVI for the first time in the Vatican in 2007.

Medvedev will travel to Italy for routine talks at the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the Kremlin said separately.

Berlusconi has a good relationship with Putin, and paid a private visit to Russia last month.

Speaking to the Italian media in July, Medvedev said Moscow and the Vatican were in talks to establish diplomatic ties. - I believe that it is absolutely normal - he said at the time.

Relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church have been tense for centuries, and were again strained in recent years by Orthodox accusations of Catholics proselytizing in post-Soviet Russia.

But the Russian Church has recently moved to soften its stance and said talks are under way to prepare a historic meeting between the pope and the Moscow patriarch.