VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash, has asked Pope Francis to visit Ukraine almost every time they’ve met for a private audience. Each time, the pope has pointed to a folder resting on his desk containing the formal invitation from Ukrainian officials and said he is waiting “for the appropriate time,” Yurash said.
Even though the war between Russia and Ukraine started in 2014, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 significantly escalated the conflict and brought it to the forefront of global conversations. More than two years later and after repeated appeals from Ukrainian religious and political leaders, the pope has not personally visited Ukraine.
“When I meet him, and when I have this opportunity, he always tells me one phrase: I’m waiting for the appropriate time when my visit will symbolize a real positive input into the situation,” Yurash told Religion News Service on Monday (Aug. 12).
The Ukrainian Embassy to the Holy See is a stone’s throw from St. Peter’s Square. Pictures of Vatican prelates meeting with Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, fill the walls. Zelenskyy too asked Francis to visit Kyiv before the invasion in 2022 and has since then repeated the invitation to the Holy Father.
For Yurash, a papal visit would signify the “greatest step in the peace building process in Ukraine.” Every time the pope has told him he is waiting for the right time to visit Ukraine, the ambassador said, he answered by stating that “anytime you come to Ukraine, it will be the appropriate time, because you will bring the most important thing: You will bring hope. You will bring a new energy. You will bring something unique and a sign of closeness from the Western civilization, from the Western society, a message that we are all with you.”
In a 2022 interview with Reuters, Pope Francis had announced he would visit Kyiv only if he could travel to Moscow as well. The desire to avoid taking sides in a conflict reflects a long-standing Vatican approach to diplomacy and the hope of acting as a peace broker.
But the pope’s efforts to remain above the fray have also led to some diplomatic blunders. Speaking to the Italian news outlet Il Corriere della Sera in 2022, the pope suggested NATO was responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine and later hinted at imperial interests at play in the ongoing conflict.
In an interview with Swiss broadcaster RSI in March, Francis seemed to encourage Ukraine to embrace the courage of the “white flag” and sit down at the negotiating table. Despite the Vatican’s attempts to provide context for the papal remarks, Ukrainians reacted angrily to the pope’s comments.
While Yurash understands the good intentions of Vatican diplomacy, he was critical of the pope’s efforts to influence the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Any negotiation can be possible if you have the second side,” he said, “but Russia has always been negative, not responding, not being polite, not being positive in any terms.”
Pope Francis has spearheaded a diversified effort to bring peace to the region, from official diplomacy, to charitable outlets, to unofficial channels. Leading the official effort is the pope’s No. 2, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who visited Ukraine in mid-July for a six-day trip to meet with local officials and religious leaders.
It was the first visit by Parolin since the beginning of the invasion, having previously visited the country in 2016 and 2021. The Vatican’s de facto foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, also visited the country in May 2022.
