ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis revealed Sunday that a secret peace “mission” was underway in Russia’s war in Ukraine, though he gave no details, saying the Vatican is willing to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war.
“I am available to do anything,” Francis said during an on-air news conference on the way home from Hungary. “There is a mission that is not public that is underway; When it’s public I’ll talk about it.»
Francis did not elaborate when asked if he spoke about peace initiatives during his talks in Budapest this weekend with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary.
Deportations of Ukrainian children they 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 «everything humanly possible» to reunite families.
“All human gestures help. Cruelty gestures 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 kidnapping children from Ukraine. Russia has denied any wrongdoing, claiming 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 the Ukrainian children taken after the Russian invasion.
“I asked His Holiness to help us return home Ukrainians, criminally detained, arrested and deported Ukrainian children to Russia,” Shmyhal told the Foreign Press Association after the hearing.
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.
The prisoner exchanges “went well. I think it could go well for this too. It’s important,” he said of family reunifications. “The Holy See is available to do it because it is the right thing to do,” she added. “We have to do everything humanly possible.”