Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to promote himself as a global leader and make his country into an alternative to the United States. Due to domestic issues, Putin has traveled fairly little in 2013, though he's been abroad more frequently in the last month. He is currently at the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis — the first meeting between the two and the first between a pope and a Russian head of state since full diplomatic relations were restored between Russia and the Holy See in 2009. Russia and the Roman Catholic Church have had a tense and at times volatile history, though Moscow sees the church as a means to help spread Russian influence. Previously one church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church split in 1054 when the patriarch of Constantinople was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and theological differences fractured the church.