Pope Francis would like to visit Kyiv and Moscow after his trip to Canada, which is scheduled for the end of July.
In an interview with Reuters, Francis said that first of all he would like to visit Moscow in order to serve the “cause of peace” and persuade the Russian leadership to end the war against Ukraine.
“I would like to go (to Ukraine), and I wanted to go to Moscow first. We exchanged messages about this because I thought that if the Russian president gave me a small window to serve the cause of peace. The first thing is to go to Russia to try to help in some way, but I would like to go to both capitals,” the Pope said.
Pope Francis I has appointed Visvaldas Kulbokas as apostolic nuncio to Ukraine.
According to the Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine, Pope thus advanced Kulbokas to the rank of archbishop.
Visvaldas Kulbokas was born in Klaipeda (Lithuania) on May 14, 1974. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 2004 and has served in the Pontifical Missions in Lebanon, the Netherlands, Russia and in the State Relations Section of the State Secretariat. Since 2020 he has been working at the Apostolic Nunciature in Kenya.
He has a command of English, Spanish, Italian, Russian and French. From 2015 to June 2020, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti was the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine. On July 4, Pope Francis appointed him as Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska have been granted an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis in Vatican City State on Saturday, during which Zelensky invited Pope Francis to visit Ukraine in order to see the situation in Donbas, according to the press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
During the meeting, the head of state said that the Holy See could play an important role in bringing peace to Ukraine.
“The main thing we talked about is peace. He [Pope Francis] even called me “president of peace” – this is my image in Europe now,” Zelensky said after the audience.
He also noted that His Holiness Pope Francis is very much welcome in Ukraine, where he enjoys extremely high support and trust.
“I invited him to Ukraine. I am sure he will visit Ukraine – not only its capital. I said that one should visit eastern Ukraine in order to fully understand what is going on there,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky and Pope Francis also discussed humanitarian initiatives to help children and protect the environment.
“I am extremely grateful to His Holiness for the “Pope for Ukraine” initiative, which helped 900,000 war-stricken Ukrainians in Donbas,” Zelensky said.
