The pontiff and Hilarion spoke for about twenty minutes in private. Few details have filtered out about the exchanges.
According to sources close to Vatican diplomacy, the pope had expressly wanted this meeting. The pope wants to keep the link, whatever the cost, in order to find peaceful solutions to the conflict. In this context, this meeting seems to be once again an outstretched hand towards Russia, and an encouragement towards the moderate fringe of the Orthodox Church. It was an off-program, but the meeting was expected.