Ukrainian ambassador says papal visit would give major boost to peace

Andrii Yurash said a visit by Pope Leo XIV would bring a message of peace and justice, while recent Vatican missions show that Ukraine is not alone.

A potential visit by Pope Leo XIV to Ukraine could make a significant contribution to international efforts to end the war and achieve a lasting peace, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See said.

“We are absolutely sure that his possible visit would be a great input into the process of reaching peace there,” Ambassador Andrii Yurash said in an interview with “EWTN Noticias,” the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News.

He said the presence on Ukrainian soil of “probably the most respectable spiritual leader of the world,” carrying “a message of peace” and “a message of justice,” would be “the greatest input into this process.”

Yurash spoke after Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, said the Vatican was seriously considering the possibility of a papal visit to Ukraine.

Gallagher spent six days in the country last week. On July 20, he met in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who thanked the Holy See for its continued support for Ukraine amid the war with Russia.

“We continuously express our wish to have His Holiness as quick as possible in Ukraine,” Yurash said.

The diplomat said expectations among the Ukrainian population for a papal visit were extremely high.

“The pope is the most wanted foreign representative in Ukraine,” he said, adding that Ukrainians would like to receive and embrace him and “listen to his messages expressed directly on the Ukrainian land.”

Yurash said he was confident the pope understood those expectations.

“I hope he is thinking very seriously about that, and I hope he is looking for some really appropriate moment when it can be realized,” he said.

Repeated invitations

Pope Leo XIV has received several official invitations to visit Ukraine.

Yurash said the invitations had been extended at every level since Zelenskyy first met the pope on the day of his inauguration. The Ukrainian president and the pontiff have since held two other meetings, according to the ambassador.

The latest invitation came on Good Friday, when Zelenskyy formally asked Pope Leo XIV to make an apostolic visit to the country.

During the conversation, the pope expressed his closeness to Ukrainians suffering because of the war and emphasized the urgent need to guarantee humanitarian assistance. He also expressed his hope for an end to hostilities and a just and lasting peace with Russia.

Gallagher’s visit was preceded by a second mission to Ukraine by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the pope’s special envoy.

The archbishop of Bologna recently completed a four-day visit to Lviv and Kyiv, during which he emphasized the exchange of prisoners, the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia, and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Yurash said the missions demonstrated the Holy See’s commitment to Ukraine.

“I think the message is very obvious,” he said.

“The message is that His Holiness understands realities of the war in Ukraine, and in this way of sending two very high representatives of the Holy See, he is trying to show that he is supporting Ukraine in general and any attempts to reach, to achieve just peace for Ukraine, as he expressed many, many times,” Yurash said. “So I think the message is absolutely clear.”

Ukraine is not alone

The ambassador also highlighted the moral and spiritual support that he said the Holy See continues to offer Ukraine.

“The Holy See shows that Ukraine is not alone, that the Holy See is trying to do everything possible to support spiritually Ukrainian people, to give some hope, to inspire people to be strong,” he said.

Yurash said that support was also rooted in the defense of international law and Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

“The value of international law is recognized by everybody, and the Holy See always repeatedly speaks that the Holy See supports territorial integrity of Ukraine,” he said.

“The Holy See, the whole civilized world, is against the violation of international law,” Yurash continued. “And in this spiritual, Church way, the Holy See expressed one more time this very concrete message for us.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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