Pope Francis welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Vatican July 4. Russia plays a major role in conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The fact that they are meeting for a third time shows that Putin considers Pope Francis an influential player and moral authority on the global stage.

Authorities in Vladivostok, the largest city in far eastern Russia, are planning to erect a gigantic statue of Jesus Christ on a site once designated for a monument of Vladimir Lenin.

Catholics in Ukraine said people fear a full-scale war with Russia, after a naval confrontation prompted the imposition of martial law in Ukraine's eastern regions.

A dozen men organized round-the-clock guard duty, worried that nationalist radicals might make their third attempt in a year to seize the place of worship.

The Russian Orthodox Church decided Monday to sever ties with the leader of the worldwide Orthodox community after his decision to grant Ukrainian clerics independence from the Moscow Patriarchate.