Pope Francis went to the Russian embassy in Rome to express his concern about the fighting in Ukraine.
The Vatican press office confirmed that Pope Francis made a visit to the Russian Embassy to the Holy See to personally express his concern about the war in Ukraine, in an extraordinary papal gesture that has no recent precedent.
The Russian Embassy to the Holy See is a short distance outside of Vatican City situated on the road leading into St. Peter’s Square, and this was seen by most as a strong personal papal initiative.
Popes usually receive ambassadors and heads of state in the Vatican and for the Pope to travel a short distance to the Russian embassy outside the Vatican walls was a sign of his strength of feeling about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Vatican officials said they knew of no such previous papal initiative.
Matteo Bruni, the Vatican spokesman, confirmed the visit, and said the pontiff wanted “clearly to express his concern about the war.” He said that Pope Francis was there for just over a half-hour.
Bruni said: “The Holy See press office confirms that the pope went to the Russian Embassy to the Holy See on Via Della Conciliazione, clearly to express his concern about the war. He was there for just over a half-hour”.
Pope Francis has called for conversation to end the conflict and has urged the faithful to set next Wednesday as a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Ukraine.
Just this week, at the end of his Wednesday general audience, he refrained from naming Russia when he called for political leaders to examine their conscience before God and refrain from actions that harm civilians and “discredit international law.”
Richard Engel, a foreign correspondent, claims the Pope was said to have personally visited the embassy, despite suffering “acute knee pain” which caused him to cancel public engagements scheduled for next week.
Ambassador Aleksandr Avdeyev, the Russian diplomat at the embassy, told Russian media that “the pope personally wanted to ask about the situation in Donbas and Ukraine” and expressed his great concern about the humanitarian situation and conditions of the population. He reportedly urged for the care of children, the sick, and the people who were suffering.
The Vatican provided no further information nor distributed any video or photographs. The pope was seen leaving the embassy building seated in the front seat of a small, white car.
On Thursday, Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said in a video statement released after the start of Russian military operations in Ukraine that although the tragic scenarios everyone feared were becoming reality “there is still time for goodwill, there is still room for negotiation.point 546 |
” He said he hoped those who hold the destiny of the world in their hands would have a “glimmer of conscience.point 101 | ”point 108 | 1
Commentators have noted that the pope and the Vatican have been careful about publicly criticizing and naming Russia, some say, so as not to antagonize the Russian Orthodox Church.
On Wednesday, February 23, just one day before Putin’s invasion, Pope Francis reportedly said the impending threat of war in Ukraine had caused a “great pain in my heart”.
He added that “despite the diplomatic efforts of the last few weeks” a series of “increasingly alarming scenarios are opening up”.
The U.N. human rights office says it is receiving increasing reports of civilian casualties in Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s military invasion.
Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says its staffers have so far verified at least 127 civilian casualties. They include 25 people killed and 102 injured, mostly from shelling and airstrikes.
Meanwhile, spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo of the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said its latest update had that more than 100,000 people were believed to have left their homes in Ukraine. She said the agency’s planning figures anticipated that “up to 4 million people may flee to other countries if the situation escalates”.