The pontiff hopes that the situation will change and he will visit both Kyiv and Moscow.
Pope Francis announced his readiness and desire to visit Kyiv, but on one condition. He said this in an interview with the Italian edition of La Nacion.
“I am ready to go to Kiev. I want to go to Kyiv. But on the condition of a trip to Moscow. I will go to both places, or I will not go to either,” he said.
The journalist who interviewed noted that a trip to Moscow was now impossible, to which the pontiff said that he expected circumstances to change.
“We hope we can do it, yes. I didn’t close that door,” Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis planned to meet with Putin on the second day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov refused his request. The pontiff spoke about this in an interview. In addition, the Pope said that the war in Ukraine is worldwide, since all major states are involved in it.
In November 2023, Pope Francis said that there is always hope for “reconciliation” between Kyiv and Moscow, but that each side in the war must “demilitarize its heart and disarm violence.” On the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Francis called for staying with the “suffering Ukrainian people.”
