The 62-year-old Kirill, born Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev, will succeed the recently deceased as Patriarch of  and all Russia. Alexy II, who is often credited with reviving the Church after the fall of in Russia, was elected Patriarch a year before the dissolved, making this Russia's first patriarchal election of the post-Soviet era. 250px|Kirill (right) meets with then-President Vladimir Putin in 2006. A secret ballot of the Church Council was held at the in Moscow, where 711 bishops, priests, and other clergy from 64 countries convened to elect the new leader of the world's second largest church. Kirill received 508 of the votes, while his more conservative opponent, of and , received 169 votes. The Patriarch-elect is seen by some analysts as a "modernizer" who might be able to improve perpetually strained relations with the . While Alexy II had repeatedly denied the late 's requests to visit Russia, Kirill had already met with his Catholic counterpart,  , in December 2007.
The 62-year-old Kirill, born Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev, will succeed the recently deceased as Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. Alexy II, who is often credited with reviving the Church after the fall of in Russia, was elected Patriarch a year before the dissolved, making this Russia's first patriarchal election of the post-Soviet era. 250px|Kirill (right) meets with then-President Vladimir Putin in 2006. A secret ballot of the Church Council was held at the in Moscow, where 711 bishops, priests, and other clergy from 64 countries convened to elect the new leader of the world's second largest church. Kirill received 508 of the votes, while his more conservative opponent, of and , received 169 votes. The Patriarch-elect is seen by some analysts as a "modernizer" who might be able to improve perpetually strained relations with the . While Alexy II had repeatedly denied the late 's requests to visit Russia, Kirill had already met with his Catholic counterpart, Pope Benedict XVI , in December 2007.
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Moscow
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Pope Benedict XVI