Meeting Between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35565085

This article is a couple of days old, but I think it is still relevant for our course on Christian traditions. The author details a meeting between Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and Patriarch Krill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was "the first between a Pope and a Russian Church head since the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity split in the 11th Century." The article also discusses how the heads of the Churches issued a joint statement calling for the world to protect Christians where they are being persecuted. This article relates to our class in a number of ways.
1) It mentions the East-West Great Schism, which is not only relevant to many different Christian traditions today, but is also an important date on our list (1054!).
2) The article also discusses some of the differences between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. I think this point is a good reminder that Christian beliefs/rituals/etc. are diverse, and it also links back to our class about Reformation and how different Christian traditions have developed.
3) The author lauds both the Pope and the Patriarch as being very diplomatic. While they may not be as connected to politics as religious figures were in the medieval days (pre-Gregorian reform and compulsory celibacy), I still think this demonstrates how religious figures can be important figures or ambassadors in the political realm.