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Pope Francis meets with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Photo/REUTERS
BUDAPEST – Ukraine became the main agenda of Pope Francis’ visit to Hungary last week. At that time the Pope spoke with Prime Minister (PM) Viktor Orban.
The Vatican is on a peace mission aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine, according to Pope Francis.
“There is a mission now but it has not been made public. When it is public, I will reveal it,” he told reporters after his visit to Hungary on Sunday (30/4/2023).
The Pope added that the Vatican is also ready to help “repatriate” Ukrainian children brought to Russia.
The Pope said he thinks peace is “always made by opening channels” and one “can never achieve peace by closing (them).”
According to the Pope, he has spoken about the situation in Ukraine with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and with Metropolitan Hilarion, the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest.
“In these meetings, we don’t just talk about Little Red Riding Hood. We talk about all of these things. Everyone is interested in the path to peace,” emphasized Pope Francis.
Separately, he made it clear that “the Holy See is willing” to help “repatriate” Ukrainian children because “it is the right thing.”
He was speaking after Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal met Pope Francis at the Vatican last week and asked for help in what he described as the “repatriation” of Ukrainian children, whom Kiev claims were illegally deported to Russia.
