Pope Francis may visit Ukraine in early August
A Vatican official told Italian broadcaster RAI that Pope Francis could visit Ukraine in early August after returning from a trip to Canada planned for late July.
“The Pope is very confident that if he visits, he will achieve positive results. He has already said he will go to Ukraine and is always ready to go to Moscow and meet with Russian officials,” said Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states at the Vatican Secretariat.
“After returning from Canada, I think we will start seriously studying the possibilities,” he added. Asked if the visit could take place in early August, Gallagher did not rule out the possibility: “I don’t rule out the possibility. However, it depends on the results of the trip to Canada. We’ll see how the Pope handles this trip, which is very demanding, and then we’ll see.
According to Gallagher’s reports, Cited by the Vatican News ServicePope Francis wants to visit Moscow to mediate with the Kremlin and seek peace – but that trip will be very difficult to accomplish for now.
“Our contacts with the Russian Federation are now basically institutional, through the Apostolic Nuncio in Moscow and the Russian Ambassador to the Holy See here. In addition, there are not many direct or personal contacts”, he said.
In a recent interview with Reuters, Pope Francis had already considered a visit to Ukraine when he returned from Canada.
“I wanted to go [à Ucrânia] I wanted to go to Moscow first. We exchanged messages about this because if the Russian president gives me a small window to serve the cause of peace…” Francis said last week. “When I return from Canada, it is now possible to organize a visit to Ukraine. The first thing is to go to Russia and try to help in some way, but I want to visit both capitals.
