Pope Francis Plans to go to Ukraine According to the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States - Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher says Pope Francis plans to go to Kyiv, Ukraine, as soon as possible. 

Vatican News reported that the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations made these comments at an event to present the annual Meeting of Rimini at Palazzo Borromeo, the residence of the Italian Embassy to the Holy See on Tuesday. 

He was speaking to some journalists, including Vatican Radio's Luca Collodi, Archbishop Gallagher reaffirmed the Pope's interest in visiting the nation. 

Archbishop Gallagher made an appeal to never forget the war and grow accustomed to it. He explained that the Pope desired to go, underlining however that "the when and how we do not know." 

 Archbishop Gallagher, himself made his own trip to the country, and said he was fortunate to go to Kyiv in a moment of serenity on the ground, with bombings taking place both before and after our visit." 

 "As [far as] diplomacy - Archbishop Gallagher admitted, - we must recognize a failure. "It did not work; [diplomacy] did not know how to avoid this conflict," he said. Need for a diplomacy which prevents "When I arrived in Rome from Australia in 2015, the Pope told me," he shared, "that he did not want a diplomacy that reacts but foresees things, a preventive diplomacy. Ukraine tells us that we must try to anticipate conflicts, that diplomacy must have the ability to see the gravity of what is happening in the world. It must reaffirm the fundamental principles of international law. All this represents our failure. Perhaps we have not said any of this. We cannot be silent in the face of violence." 

"I think, perhaps, that it is too early to talk about reconstruction, but it is good to have a positive attitude. However, we must help the Ukrainians to rebuild the social fabric of the country with traumatized people in need of accompaniment," he said. Need for reconciliation and pardon Archbishop Gallagher affirmed that "as a priest I feel the obligation to remember that we cannot ignore the message of reconciliation and forgiveness despite the intensity of suffering." In Europe, he said, we had the miracle of peace, recalling the reconciliation between France and Germany a few years after the World War II. "However," he continued, "we have to renew some international institutions. The OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development], for example, which should be the body that protects us, but also the European Union and the UN." 

 The Archbishop further appealed, "We must not forget the Ukrainian crisis." Today, he said, news about the war "is forgotten." "We must instead continue to remember Ukraine, the war, keeping attention high for a peace project of the Spirit of God, to rediscover peace, a gift of God with which man must collaborate." 

 The Meeting of Rimini, also known as the Meeting for Friendship among Peoples, sponsored by Comunione e Liberazione, with collaboration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, will welcome to the Italian city situated on the Adriatic Sea, many well-known speakers and participants. 

Source: Edited from Vatican News