Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 20, a day after Russian missiles and drones struck the Kyiv neighborhood where the prelate was spending the night.
President Zelensky thanked the Vatican for its support for the Ukrainian people and “expressed his special gratitude to the Vatican for its assistance in returning Ukrainian children abducted by Russia,” according to a statement from the president’s office. Archbishop Gallagher, in turn, “reaffirmed the Vatican’s support for Ukraine’s path toward membership in the European Union” and thanked the president for allowing Catholics to use a church that had been confiscated by the Soviet Union.
President Zelensky added that a papal visit to Ukraine “could be a truly historic moment—above all, a moment of support.”
As his visit to Ukraine drew to a close, Archbishop Gallagher also met with acting Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha and visited the Maidan Museum.