Russia vows to ensure Damascus observes ceasefire: Putin

Yahoo – AFP, 22 February 2016

Russia's President Vladimir Putin, pictured on February 20, 2016, said Russia will
do "whatever is necessary" to ensure that Damascus respects a Syrian ceasefire
agreement (AFP Photo/Mikhail Klimentyev)

Moscow (AFP) - Russia will do "whatever is necessary" to ensure that Damascus respects a Syrian ceasefire agreement that Moscow and Washington say will take effect on February 27, President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

"We will do whatever is necessary with Damascus, with the legitimate Syrian authorities," Putin said during a televised address after speaking by phone with US President Barack Obama.

"We are counting on the United States to do the same with its allies and the groups that it supports."

Putin said the United States and Russia were "ready to put in place an effective control mechanism" to ensure respect of the ceasefire, adding that a "direct line of communication will be created as well as, if necessary, a working group to exchange information".

"Finally a real chance to bring an end to the years of bloodshed and violence is emerging," Putin said.

The Russian president said the ceasefire agreement had come out of "intense work by teams of Russian and American experts", made easier by the "positive experience" of a US-Russian deal on the dismantling of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, signed in September 2013.

"All fighting groups should confirm to us, or to the United States, their commitment to this truce," Putin said of the deal signed between Moscow and Washington on Monday.

"The Russian and American militaries, together, will define the territories on which these groups are operating. There will be no military operations against them."

But "with regard to the Al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State and other terrorist groups recognised as such by the UN, a ceasefire is totally excluded. The strikes against them will continue," he added.

Russia and the United States said in a joint statement that the partial truce would come into force at midnight Damascus time on Saturday (2200 GMT Friday).

#NEWSGRAPHIC: More than 270,000 people killed, 4.7 million refugees after nearly 5 years of civil war in Syria pic.twitter.com/ycMDv4U9bC

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 26, 2016

The United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria on 

February 24, 2016 at the UN in New York (AFP Photo/Mark Garten)

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US Secretary of States John Kerry (R) gestures beside of Russian Foreign Minister

 Sergei Lavrov (L) during a news conference after the International Syria Support 

Group (ISSG) meeting in Munich on February 12, 2016 (AFP Photo/Christof Stache)

"The Dysfunction of Darkness" - Nov 14, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Paris/ISIS/Dark-Old Energy/USA+Warning for Governments around the World !!!) - (Text version) New

“…  No More Fence-sitting

We gave you another prophecy years ago. No one is going to be able to sit on the fence in the new energy. There is no government that can sit and watch, because they will all be involved. They're going to have to make the decision to fight the darkness or not. And if they do not fight the darkness, they will then be vulnerable to the dark army. We told you this information years ago. All governments on this planet will eventually be involved in eliminating the dark army. So when the dark army beats on the beehive, those who have been sitting on the fence will be ripped off and will see light and dark and must make a decision. The dark army, by its very actions, is seeding its own destruction. It does not understand light. It only understands one thing: Fear. This represents a very old energy. It goes like this: "If you can make people afraid, you will win any battle." This is an old energy consciousness, and there is truth to it, if you're a victim. If you're a transmitter of light, it won't affect you. You'll know better.

Funding is the Grease of the Engine of Darkness

Everyone on the planet will have to get off the fence in order to eliminate the dark army. Now we have told you before how to do it. And politicians will roll their eyes. Those on the inside of government who know how things work will roll their eyes. You can eliminate the dark army without death. The very thing they're afraid of losing, you can take from them now. Money! How does a dark army work when they can't eat? How will they function when they have no weapons? I guarantee you, even the darkest member of a dark army will go home if they're not fed, or there's no one around to organize them because the leaders are hungry and left. It's impossible, some say. The money is coming from unknown sources, they say. Let me tell you something. No, it isn't. It is coming from very known sources. Much of it comes from the resources of conquered land, but not all. They will start losing their land soon, so they will need funds all the more. If the sources of their income were totally exposed - there are those listening who need to hear this - if the sources of their income were totally exposed, it would make a big difference to the public, who would be shocked.

Let me talk to politicians. You regularly sit across the table from those who are from other countries and who are allies. They smile at you as they fund the dark side. After all, there is money to be made with war! This has been the way of it for years. But this won't last long. Politician, when it's found out that you knew about it, you are the one who will be held responsible. You didn't do anything about it.

I want to talk to Americans, because my partner [Lee] is an American. I'm going to tell you something now, and you're not going to believe it. Many of your hard-earned tax funds are finding their way to the dark army! And there are those within your government who know it. I'll give you an answer as to what to do about it in just a few words: International transparent forensic accounting. International transparent forensic accounting! It is time to clean up the funding of the dark, and kill their ability to make war.***

I have a warning for any of those in leadership who know about where the money is coming from, and are not doing anything about it. Your leadership days are numbered. The light is going to expose it and you will lose. Why not get on the right side of the fence now?

Is this too high-minded? Is this too simple? To think that the world could come together and pull the rug from under the darkness where they sit and the cocoon of money that they're in - could this actually happen? Watch for a wild card! [Kryon chuckles again.]

If you did this, would it change the kind of attack you had in Paris? After all, that wasn't an army at all, but just a few. The answer is yes - for the few answer to the many and were trained by the many. They saw the many as an established core to work from. Without the core, there is no purpose. The few are then on their own, without anything backing them up.

It's up to you listening, not the ones in this room. The ones listening and reading later may not even be into Kryon or channeling, but they hear this and know I'm right. This is not a dark message. It's a light message! The beginning is here. Things are changing. You are witnessing the change as we speak.

There'll come a day when you will never see this happen again, these organized groups of evil. This is the joyful message I have for you today. History will remember these times when the world finally got together and realized where they were going. It is tough now. It changes the paradigm of existence. Lives, governments and business will all start to understand the battle is here and is theirs to win. What is your reaction?

I want you to congratulate, love, and understand those who were lost yesterday [in Paris]. I've said this before: They are on my side of the veil now. They're all right. They're now looking back at you and - we have used the phrase before - they're saying, “We did our part. Now you do yours.” They will return to this planet, all of them, and participate in the beauty of the light you are creating at this time of shift on your planet.

Believe me, the end has already happened. This is the beginning.

I am in love with humanity, because of what I have seen you do.

And so it is.

KRYON

At Mexico-US border, pope decries migrant 'tragedy'

Yahoo – AFP, Carola Sole, Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere, 18 February 2016

Pope Francis waves next to the US border before celebrating mass at the Ciudad

Juarez fairgrounds on February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Yuri Cortez)

Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) (AFP) - Pope Francis on Wednesday decried the human tragedy of migrants fleeing violence as he celebrated a huge mass on Mexico's border with the United States, where many have died while crossing it.

In a highly symbolic gesture, the pope climbed a ramp facing the Rio Grande that separates Mexico's Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, laid flowers under a cross and blessed hundreds of migrants on the American side, who waved at him.

People wait for Pope Francis to celebrate 

mass at the Ciudad Juarez fairground in 

Mexico on February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Yuri Cortez)

Francis then celebrated mass with more than 300,000 Catholic faithful on the Juarez side of the border, with tens of thousands more following it on a giant screen in an El Paso stadium.

Immigration is a hot-button issue on the US presidential campaign trail and White House hopeful Donald trump criticized the pope's decision to hold such a mass.

But Latin America's first pontiff did not talk directly about the politics across the border, focusing instead on the plight of migrants.

"We cannot deny the humanitarian crisis which in recent years has meant the migration of thousands of people, whether by train or highway or on foot, crossing hundreds of kilometers through mountains, deserts and inhospitable zones," Francis said.

"The human tragedy that is forced migration is a global phenomenon today," he said on the last day of a five-day trip to Mexico.

Central Americans have been leaving their poor and gang-infested countries in droves, crossing Mexico's porous southern border with Guatemala on their way to the United States.

The trek across Mexico is filled with dangers -- from gangs that steal, kill or seek to forcibly recruit them, to corrupt officials who demand bribes to let them travel.

A crowd waits for Pope Francis to celebrate 

mass in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on 

February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Yuri Cortez)

Many others have died under the US-Mexico desert's scorching sun.

"Injustice is radicalized in the young; they are cannon fodder, persecuted and threatened when they try to flee the spiral of violence and the hell of drugs. Then there are the many women unjustly robbed of their lives," Francis said.

"No more death. No more exploitation. There is still time to change, there is still a way out and a chance, time to implore the mercy of God."

'Political pope'

The fate of 11 million undocumented immigrants is the source of vivid debate in the United States.

Trump, who wants Mexico to pay to build a wall along the border, has called the pope a "very political person."

"I think that he doesn't understand the problems our country has. I don't think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico," the billionaire real estate tycoon told the Fox Business channel last week.

In response, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said that, while the pope's job was not politics, "one should not be surprised that his pastoral and spiritual message has political repercussions."

Pope Francis prays next to the US border before celebrating mass at the Ciudad 

Juarez fairgrounds on February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

Maria Ortega Cruz Bautista, 62, traveled from Chicago to be with her family at the mass in Ciudad Juarez, a city she left 14 years ago.

She voiced hope that the pope's message will prompt authorities "to have more compassion and more consideration for migrants."

In El Paso, Sandra Ovalle, 32, shared a similar feeling as she headed with her family to the Sun Bowl stadium, where the jubilant crowd performed a wave.

"We hope that the pope will make our leaders change, so that we get support and that things change for the better," said Ovalle, a native of Mexico's northern Chihuahua state who now lives in the US state of New Mexico.

Inmates as 'prophets'

Before the mass, Francis visited a prison, nearly a week after a riot killed 49 inmates at another Mexican penitentiary.

He visited its chapel and addressed hundreds of inmates in the prison yard, telling them they should use their experiences to help "put an end to this cycle of violence and exclusion."

Pope Francis waves as he arrives on the popemobile to celebrate mass at the 

Ciudad Juarez fairgrounds on February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Yuri Cortez)

"The one who has suffered the greatest pain, and we could say 'has experienced hell,' can become a prophet in society. Work so that this society which uses people and discards them will not go on claiming victims," he said.

The Juarez prison was the scene of deadly riots a few years ago, with dozens of prisoners killed in recent years, but it has been held up as an example of efforts to improve Mexico's notoriously overcrowded prisons.

Ciudad Juarez stands as a grim symbol of Mexico's violence, but also of hope.

It became the country's most dangerous city a few years ago as the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels fought for control of drug routes.

Their turf war left as many as 3,000 dead in 2010, but the murderous rampage gradually eased afterward, with the toll falling to 300 last year.

#UPDATE Pope says Donald Trump 'not a Christian' because of his views on immigration https://t.co/sSQrwzmNNR pic.twitter.com/CZLSfn4Qfw

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 18, 2016

Related Article:

Pope Francis on Zika: abortion a crime, contraception a lesser evil

Pope Francis on Zika: abortion a crime, contraception a lesser evil

Yahoo – AFP, 18 February 2016

A pregnant woman holds a mosquito net in Cali on February 10, 2016 after the 

Colombian Health Ministry began delivering mosquito nets free to prevent 

infection by Zika virus (AFP Photo/Luis Robayo)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis insisted Thursday that abortion was always a crime but hinted that the Church could exceptionally relax its ban on contraception for women at risk of contracting the Zika virus.

"Abortion is not a lesser evil. It is a crime," Francis said in response to a question about how best to combat the outbreak across Latin America of a virus linked to birth defects.

But he added: "Avoiding a pregnancy is not an absolute evil."

Pope Francis speaks to journalists aboard

 the flight from Mexico to Italy, on February

18, 2016 (AFP Photo/Alessandro Di Meo)

The 79-year-old pontiff recalled that one of his predecessors, Paul VI (1963-1978) had authorised nuns working in Africa to use contraceptives in light of a high risk of them being raped by soldiers.

"We must not confuse the evil consisting of avoiding a pregnancy with abortion," Francis said. "Abortion is not a theological problem. It is a human problem, medical. One person is killed to save another. It is evil in itself, it is not a religious evil, it is a human evil.

"On the contrary, avoiding a pregnancy and, in the cases of Paul VI which I have cited, it was clear.

"I would also urge doctors to do everything they can to develop a vaccine."

The United Nations and aid organisations have urged countries hit by the virus to ensure women have access to contraception to reduce the risk of infection and the right to abortion should they decide to terminate a pregnancy.

Many Latin American countries outlaw abortion or allow it only if the mother's life is in danger.

After initially saying little about the outbreak, Catholic leaders in the region have recently begun to assert the Church's opposition to what it terms "artificial" birth control and abortion.

Instead of using condoms or the contraceptive pill, Church officials have been recommending abstinence or what they term natural family planning -- scheduling sexual relations for the least fertile periods of a woman's menstrual cycle.

Francis was also questioned about the recent revelation that another of his predecessors, John-Paul II, had an "intense" 30-year friendship with a married woman.

The current pope said he had been aware of his Polish predecessor's friendship with philosopher and writer Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka.

"A man lacks something if he does not know how to have a good rapport with a woman," he said, adding for good measure that, "sexists are sick".

Every priest should seek out the feelings of women on different subjects, he said.

"I like to receive advice from women. A friendship with a woman is not a sin - a love affair, on the contrary, is."

Although he has given no indication of a change in current Church teaching on the question, Francis has said that the requirement of celibacy for Catholic priests is not set in stone and could be reviewed.

Related Articles:

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  3 - Longer Life is Going to Happen, But…

Here is one that is a review. We keep bringing it up because Humans don't believe it. If you're going to start living longer, there are those who are frightened that there will be overpopulation. You've seen the way it is so far, and the geometric progression of mathematics is absolute and you cannot change it. So if you look at the population of the earth and how much it has shifted in the last two decades, it's frightening to you. What would change that progression?

The answer is simple, but requires a change in thinking. The answer is a civilization on the planet who understands a new survival scenario. Instead of a basic population who has been told to have a lot of children to enhance the race [old survival], they begin to understand the logic of a new scenario. The Akashic wisdom of the ages will start to creep in with a basic survival scenario shift. Not every single woman will look at herself and say, "The clock is ticking," but instead can say, "I have been a mother 14 times in a row. I'm going to sit this one out." It's a woman who understands that there is no loss or guilt in this, and actually feels that the new survival attribute is to keep the family small or not at all! Also, as we have said before, even those who are currently ignorant of population control will figure out what is causing babies to be born [Kryon joke].

Part of the new Africa will be education and healing, and eventually a zero population growth, just like some of the first-world nations currently have. Those who are currently tied to a spiritual doctrine will actually have that doctrine changed (watch for it) regarding Human birth. Then they will be able to make free choice that is appropriate even within the establishment of organized religion. You see, things are going to change where common sense will say, "Perhaps it would help the planet if I didn't have children or perhaps just one child." Then the obvious, "Perhaps I can exist economically better and be wiser with just one. It will help the one!" Watch for these changes. For those of you who are steeped in the tradition of the doctrines and would say that sounds outrageously impossible, I give you the new coming pope [Kryon smile]. For those of you who feel that uncontrolled procreation is inevitable, I encourage you to see statistics you haven't seen or didn't care to look at yet about what first-world countries have already accomplished on their own, without any mandates. It's already happening. That was number three.….”

Pope Francis asks indigenous Mexicans for forgiveness

Yahoo – AFP, Yemeli Ortega, Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, 16 February 2016

Pope Francis waves from the popemobile in San Cristobal de Las Casas on 

February 15, 2016 (AFP Photo/Ronaldo Schemidt)

San Cristóbal de las Casas (Mexico) (AFP) - Pope Francis reached out to Mexico's long-marginalized indigenous population, asking for forgiveness over their exclusion as he celebrated an open-air mass in native languages in impoverished Chiapas state.

While Chiapas is the country's least Catholic state, tens of thousands of people packed into a sports field for the mass celebrated, under special papal decree, in the indigenous languages of the region.

Women wearing colorful embroidered dresses led biblical readings and hymns in the Chol, Tzotzil and Tzeltal -- all languages of the indigenous Maya people of the region.

The pope himself said a few words in one of the native languages and cited Popol Vuh, an ancient Mayan text.

Map of Mexico detail Pope Francis' itinerary on his forthcoming visit. (AFP 

Photo/Nicolas Ramallo, Gustavo Izus, Vincent Lefai)

"On many occasions, in a systematic and organized way, your people have been misunderstood and excluded from society," the 79-year-old Argentine-born pontiff said.

"Some have considered your values, culture and traditions to be inferior. Others, intoxicated by power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands or contaminated them. How sad this is," he said.

"How worthwhile it would be for each of us to examine our conscience and learn to say, 'Forgive me!'"

The pope said Monday that the planet had much to learn from indigenous groups, especially their harmony with nature amid "the greatest environmental crises in world history."

Around 30 percent of Chiapas's population does not speak Spanish, the language of the colonial power that conquered Mexico in the 16th century, exploited indigenous people and sought to convert them to Christianity.

Francis already apologized for the church's colonial-era crimes during a trip to Bolivia last year.

A young girl attends a mass celebrated by Pope Francis with representatives of the 

indigenous communities of Chiapas in the municipal sport center in San Cristobal

de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico on February 15, 2016 (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

While Mexico's early 20th century revolution sought to end land oligarchies, indigenous groups remain among the poorest in the country to this day and feel abandoned by the government.

The continuing plight of indigenous groups triggered a revolt by Zapatista rebels who sought more autonomy for them in 1994.

Losing flock

"Long live the pope of the indigenous people!" some shouted from the roofs of their homes as the pope arrived at the field, where a replica of the yellow facade of the city's cathedral served as background to the large stage.

"I'm very happy because few people speak Spanish in my village and now they can receive the body of Christ in their language," said Mariano Perez, a 33-year-old Tzotzil who attended the mass wearing a rancher hat.

While Mexico is the world's second most populous Catholic nation after Brazil, with 82 percent of its population of 122 million identifying with the religion, only 58 percent are loyal to the Vatican in Chiapas.

Pope Francis kisses a baby from the popemobile upon arrival in San Cristobal de las 

Casas in Chiapas State for his second open-air mass, on February 15, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Ronaldo Schemidt)

"If the church is to stop the hemorrhaging of indigenous (populations) in Chiapas and across Latin America, it must offer more masses in indigenous languages and recruit indigenous priests who are very small in numbers," Andrew Chesnut, religious studies professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, told AFP.

The pope's visit comes in the middle of an intense, five-day trip that he has used to speak out against crime and corruption.

After the mass Francis visited San Cristobal's cathedral.

He stopped in front of the tomb of Samuel Ruiz, a controversial bishop who defended the Mayan people and acted as mediator between the government and the Zapatista guerrillas.

Lingering tensions over the state's social problems reemerged last week, when protestors spray-painted the words "we don't want the pope, we want justice" on the cathedral's yellow walls.

But the demonstrators dispersed over the weekend and authorities repainted the cathedral.

"We know that the government wants to hide things or make it seem that everything is all right," said Octavio Gomez, a 45-year-old Tzeltal from a nearby village.

Chamula's indigenous people attend the open-air mass officiated by Pope Francis

 in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas state, Mexico, on February 15, 2016

(AFP Photo/Mario Vazquez)

Family: basis of 'healthy society'

After the mass, the pope flew by helicopter to the nearby capital of Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutierrez, to attend an event focused on family issues at a packed stadium.

Francis heard stories about marriage and divorce, and a single mother who had a chance to abort, but decided to keep the child.

"You were very brave," the pope told her.

Francis said family was "the basis of any healthy society" and warned about the "pretense of modernity" and ideologies that "destroy" it.

The pope heads Tuesday to the western state of Michoacan, where farmers rose up in 2013 to crush a cultish drug cartel, before ending his trip on Wednesday in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez. 

Pope to Mexico priests: don't give up in face of violence https://t.co/2cPWMA8MNZ #PopeInMexico #PapaEnMich pic.twitter.com/hprFAmgiBf

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 16, 2016

Throngs cheer Pope Francis as he delivers tough-love message in Mexico

Pope Francis was greeted by thousands of supporters upon his arrival in Mexico. The pontiff delivered a tough-love message to President Nieto and his government, saying people have a right to security and justice.

Deutsche Welle, 13 February 2016

Thousands of Catholics gathered in the historic Zocalo square on Saturday to welcome the Argentine pontiff as he waved from his popemobile. Many Mexicans hoped that Pope Francis' visit would put pressure on President Enrique Pena Nieto to remedy the issues plaguing Mexico's society, including drug-inspired violence and corruption.

Following a private meeting with Pena on Saturday, Francis gave a hard-hitting speech at the National Palace, where he addressed the president and other government authorities.

The pontiff said Mexico's political leaders have a duty to provide their people with security, "true justice" and basic services, and warned them against being seduced by privilege.

"Adequate housing, dignified employment, food, true justice, effective security, a healthy and peaceful environment" are all part of a politicians' responsibility, Francis said.

In a speech alongside the pope, Nieto says he shares Pope Francis' concerns about the "great challenges...doubts and uncertainties" that the nation faces.

'Moral challenge'

The Pope waves to crowds in Mexico City

Speaking at Mexico City's cathedral later on Saturday, Francis urged Mexican bishops to take on drug trafficking with "prophetic courage," warning that it represents a moral challenge to Mexican society as a whole, and not just the Church.

"The magnitude of this phenomenon, the complexity of its causes, its immensity and its scope which devours like a metastasis, and the gravity of the violence which divides with its distorted expressions, do not allow us as Pastors of the Church to hide behind anodyne denunciations," Francis said.

As a result of drug-related violence, more than 100,000 people have either died or gone missing in Mexico in the past decade. The pope's visit on Saturday came just days after 49 people were killed in a fight between rival gangs in a prison.

The Pope's arrival in Mexico comes a day after his historic meeting with the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is the first time the leaders of the two churches have met in the nearly 1,000 years since a theological schism led to a split in the church.

Related Article:

Pope urges Mexico leaders to provide 'true justice'

  

Pope, patriarch urge Christian unity at historic talks

Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere, 13 February 2016

Pope Francis (R) and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill,

 greet each other during a historic meeting in Havana on February 12, 2016 (AFP

Photo/Adalberto Roque)

Havana (AFP) - Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill called in a historic meeting Friday for restored Christian unity and urgent action to help Christians threatened by violence in the Middle East.

"For nearly one thousand years, Catholics and Orthodox have been deprived of communion in the Eucharist," they said in a joint declaration signed after talks in Cuba.

Pope Francis (R) and the head of the

Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, 

kiss each other during a historic meeting in 

Havana on February 12, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Adalberto Roque)

"We are pained by the loss of unity, the outcome of human weakness and of sin."

It was the first meeting between the heads of the Eastern and Western churches since the great schism of 1054 when the churches split apart, with the Eastern church rejecting the authority of Rome.

"Mindful of the permanence of many obstacles, it is our hope that our meeting may contribute to the re–establishment of this unity willed by God," the church leaders said.

Their meeting was driven by rising violence in recent years in the Middle East, where Christian communities have suffered violence at the hands of extremists.

"We call upon the international community to act urgently in order to prevent the further expulsion of Christians from the Middle East," they said.

"In many countries of the Middle East and North Africa whole families, villages and cities of our brothers and sisters in Christ are being completely exterminated," they went on.

"We wish to express our compassion for the suffering experienced by the faithful of other religious traditions who have also become victims of civil war, chaos and terrorist violence."

The 79-year-old Francis, in white robes and a skullcap, and Kirill, 69, in black robes and a white headdress, earlier kissed and embraced before sitting down smiling for the historic meeting at Havana airport.

Between them, they are the spiritual leaders of more than 1.3 billion Christians.

"At last we meet. We are brothers," said the pope as he met the white-bearded Orthodox leader. "Clearly, this meeting is God's will."

Comparison of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches, with photos 

of their leaders (AFP Photo/Gustavo IZUS)

Church diplomacy

The meeting on neutral ground -- hosted by the communist, atheist Cuban leadership of Raul Castro -- was decades in the planning, with the final obstacles swept away by the pope's determination and global politics.

"I just wanted to embrace my Orthodox brothers," he said in an interview this week.

But he also framed the encounter in a broader context of engaging Russia, saying Moscow could be an important partner for peace in the world.

Francis has twice received Russia's President Vladimir Putin at the Vatican. The Russian leader has clashed with other powers recently over the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.

The Orthodox Church's refusal to accept the primacy of the Roman pontiff has long been the primary barrier to a rapprochement between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (C) and Cuba's President Raul Castro (R) exchange

gifts after a meeting in Havana on February 12, 2016 (AFP Photo/Enrique de la Osa)

Now there are also tensions over the perceived evangelism of the Catholic Church in Eastern Europe.

The conflict in Ukraine has pitted Ukrainian Catholics loyal to Rome against separatists who are mostly Russian Orthodox.

Meanwhile, violence by armed Islamist groups has surged in the Middle East and North Africa.

"The international community must undertake every possible effort to end terrorism through common, joint and coordinated action," the declaration read.

"We exhort all Christians and all believers of God to pray fervently to the providential creator of the world to protect his creation from destruction and not permit a new world war."

The church leaders warned against the rise of secularism and said European integration must respect religious identities.

Pope Francis (L) is welcomed by Cuban President Raul Castro at the

 International Airport Jose Marti in Havana, on February 12, 2016 (AFP

 Photo/Yamil Lage)

"While remaining open to the contribution of other religions to our civilization, it is our conviction that Europe must remain faithful to its Christian roots," they said.

Francis left after the meeting for a tour of Mexico, while Kirill continued a visit to Cuba, Brazil and Paraguay.

Francis's arrival in Mexico was set to be a luminous affair, with hundreds of thousands of well-wishers expected to line the 12-mile (19-kilometer) route from the airport to the Vatican ambassador's residence in Mexico City.

Believers planned to light up the road Francis's popemobile will travel with their mobile phones or hand-held torches, creating what local organizer Roberto Delgado described as a "wall of light and prayer."

Pope, Russian patriarch sit down together in Cuba for historic meet https://t.co/3VVTKNAe08 pic.twitter.com/yZxhRJ17nL

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 12, 2016

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Pope and Welby joined by imams and rabbis for anti-slavery declaration

Pope Francis and other religious leaders at the Vatican. Photograph: AP

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."