Patriarch Kirill noted that when they waived goodbye to the relics, he told his faithful that "neither ecclesiastical diplomacy nor government diplomacy could do as much for the development of relations between the Catholic world and the Orthodox world as what St. Nicholas did."
St Nicholas, he said, "has entered into the history of relations between our Churches as a particularly brilliant and luminous page. It is a spiritual consequence of our meeting in Havana."
As with prior meetings Cardinal Parolin had this week, other key talking points between the two were conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the need to seek peaceful solutions while working together to provide humanitarian aid.
On the crisis in Ukraine, Patriarch Kirill stressed that the Church "can play no other role than that of pacification when people are in conflict with each other," and voiced gratitude for the fact that "our Churches share much the same position on the role of the Church in the conflict in Ukraine."
Cardinal Parolin voiced much the same point of view in his meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, President of the Department for External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, the day before.
In his comments, Patriarch Kirill noted that "conflicts do not last forever and sooner or later they end," but questioned that "if all social efforts are involved in the conflict, then who will pick up the stones?"
"I appreciate very much the fact that once again we have found mutual understanding on the role that our Churches must play in the reconciliation of the population in Ukraine," he said.
When it comes to the Middle East, mention was made of the agreement the two Churches found on conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa during last year's meeting in Havana.
"The collaboration between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in providing humanitarian assistance to the populations suffering due to conflicts in the Middle East can be an important factor of unity," Patriarch Kirill said, adding that cooperation in providing aid can provide a basis for common projects in the Middle East in the future.
Following his meeting with the patriarch, Cardinal Parolin visited Putin at the presidential residence in Sochi, nearly 900 miles southwest of Saratov.
During their hour-long meeting "carried out in a positive and cordial climate, one of respect and listening to each other," they had an "open exchange of views on various subject matters relating to international and bilateral relations," according to a statement from the Holy See press office.
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They exchanged gifts, with Cardinal Parolin giving the Russian president a bronze olive branch as a symbol of peace, and Putin giving the Vatican secretary of state a set of collector coins commemorating the 2014 Olympics, which were held in Sochi.
Cardinal Parolin is travelling back to Moscow, where he will say a private Mass at the nunciature Aug. 24 before his return to Rome.
Elise Harris was senior Rome correspondent for CNA from 2012 to 2018.