Putin and the Pope

"The brother shall not acquire anything as their own, neither a house nor a place nor anything at all." (St. Francis of Assisi)

Pope Francis, who chose to be called after St. Francis of Assisi, "the man of poverty", today received Russia's ruler Vladimir Putin, who had flown to Rome with a delegation of 11 ministers and countless delegates.

The Vatican did not offer any comments after the meeting that lasted 35 minutes.

One can only hope that the Pope chose to remind Putin - "who has at his disposal 20 lavish state villas and palaces, four yachts, a fleet of more than 40 aircraft, 15 helicopters, phalanxes of cars, a collection of luxury wristwatches worth about $700,000, and an alleged personal fortune that may amount to billions of dollars" - about his recent visit to Assisi, where he appealed to Christians worldwide to divest themselves of worldliness, which leads to “vanity, arrogance and pride,” because “it is bad for us”.

PS

At least one can be certain that Pope Francis did not call Vladimir Putin's long rule a "miracle of God", as the head of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, did last year.