There is one man who always keeps the Holy Father waiting. Three times in a row now he has arrived conspicuously late for a private audience at the Vatican, in breach of diplomatic protocol. When he first visited Pope Francis in 2013, he was 50 minutes late. On his second visit, it was a full hour. Last week, he again arrived an hour behind schedule.
Perhaps Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has been particularly unlucky with Rome’s traffic. Or maybe he is sending a signal that he, rather than the Pope, is the more influential figure. Russia is, after all, millions of times larger than Vatican City, and despite the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, it remains a formidable military power.
