Pope Francis wanted to arrange a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to try to stop the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin did not respond. The pontiff said this in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
"I asked Cardinal Parolin, after twenty days of war, to pass on the message that I was ready to go to Moscow. (...) We have not yet received answers and we continue to insist, even if I am afraid that Putin cannot and does not want to hold this meeting right now. But as brutal as this is, how can it not be stopped? Twenty-five years ago we went through the same thing with Rwanda," the pontiff said.
Pope Francis is concerned that the road will not stop yet, the publication notes.
The pontiff in conversation, as indicated, always comes back to what is right to do. Many have asked him for a symbolic gesture in the form of a visit to Ukraine. But the answer is clear. "I'm not going to Kiev yet," he explains. "I sent Cardinal Michael Cerny (prefect of the Dicastery for the promotion of holistic human development) and Cardinal Conrad Krajewski (the Pope's almsgiver), who went there for the fourth time. But I feel that I don't have to go. First I have to go to Moscow, first I have to meet with Putin. But I am also a priest, what can I do? I do what I can. If Putin would open the door..."
Pope Francis told reporters during a visit to Malta that he was considering a trip to Kiev to appeal for peace there. The pontiff said the trip is "on the table."
Francis was invited by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko and UGCC head Sviatoslav Shevchuk.
