Pope Francis has 𝔍revealed that a secret peace “mission” in Russia's war in Ukraine was underway, though he gave no details, and said the Vatican is willing to🐻 help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war.
Pope Francis talks about an unnamed and yet-to-be-official peace mission from the Vatican. He spoke to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and ꦗthe Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary but the details of the conversation is not given out in public.
Pope Francis has 𝔍revealed that a secret peace “mission” in Russia's war in Ukraine was underway, though he gave no details, and said the Vatican is willing to🐻 help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war.
“I'm available to do anything,” Francis 🐠said on Sunday during an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary. “There's a mission that's not public tha🌠t's underway; when it's public I'll talk about it.”
Francis gave no details when asked whether he spoke about peace initiatives during his talks in Budapest ꦗthis weekend with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary.
Deportati🍃ons of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Francis said the Holy See had already helped mediate some prisoner exchanges and would do “all that is humanly possible” to reunite families.
“All ꦚhuman gestures help. Gestures 𝔉of cruelty don't help,” Francis said.
The International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's children's commissioner, accusing them🐭 of war crimes for abducting children from Ukrain🔯e. Russia has denied any wrongdoing, contending the children were moved for their safety.
Last week Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met with Francis at the Vatican and asked him🗹 to help return Ukrainian children taken following the Russian invasion.
“I asked His Holiness to help us return home Ukrainians, Ukrainian children who are detained, arrested, and criminally deported to Russia,” Sh🌸myhal told the Foreign Press Association after the audience.
Francis recalled🌌 that the Holy See had facilitated some🍷 prisoner exchanges, working through embassies, and was open to Ukraine's request to reunite Ukrainian children with their families.
𝓀The prisoner exchanges “went well. I think it could go well also for this. It's important,” he 🍷said of the family reunifications.
“The Holy See is available to do it because it's the right thing,” he added. “We have to do all that is humanly possible.”