Vatican City, May 3, 2022 / 03:05 am
Pope Francis has said that he will not visit Ukraine right now, but he would like to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow if the Russian president is willing.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, published May 3, the pope said that he asked Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin about 20 days into the Russia-Ukraine war to convey the message to Putin that he was willing to meet him in Moscow.
“We have not yet had a response and we are still insisting, even if I fear that Putin cannot and does not want to do this meeting at this time,” he said.
Francis also said that “for now, I will not go to Kyiv,” noting that he had sent Cardinal Michael Czerny and Cardinal Konrad Krajewski as his envoys.