Don’t think Ukraine has closed door to Pope says Shevchuk

His comments came after Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak said last Friday that Pope Francis cannot mediate in the Ukraine war because he is “pro-Russian”.

The pope had recently cited ‘the great mother Russia’ in urging young Russians to learn from their heritage in a comment which he later said had been strictly cultural.

Shevchuk said he had asked the Ukrainian ambassadors to Italy and the Holy See if “the president’s adviser expressed his personal conviction or the position of the Ukrainian government” and it emerged that it had been “a private opinion”.

In June Pope Francis appointed the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to lead a mission to identify initiatives that might open paths to peace in Ukraine.

So far, the mission has taken Zuppi to Kyiv, Moscow and Washington DC. Currently, he is in Beijing.

ANSA