Russia invades Ukraine: Pope Francis says trip to Kyiv ‘on the table’

Pope Francis told reporters on Saturday that a trip to Ukraine’s capital was “on the table.”

The 85-year-old pontiff, who greeted more than 70 reporters on his flight to Malta, was asked by a reporter if he was considering visiting Kyiv, CNN reported. After a long pause, Francis said, “Yes, it is on the table.”

Francis had been invited to Kyiv by the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, on March 8, The Guardian reported. The Vatican had confirmed receipt of a letter and said the pope was praying for Ukrainians, but made no mention of any trip to the embattled nation, according to The Guardian.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Ukraine’s Byzantine-rite Catholic Church and Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Andriy Yurash, have also extended invitations to Francis, according to CBC.

The pope’s trip to Malta was originally planned for May 2020 but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The New York Times.

On March 19, Francis visited 19 Ukrainian refugee children at the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome, CNN reported. They were receiving treatment for oncological and neurological diseases and severe injuries from blasts, Vatican Press Director Matteo Bruni said.

“More than a month has passed since the invasion of Ukraine, since the start of this cruel and senseless war, which, like every war, is a defeat for all, for all of us,” the pope said at the end of March during his weekly Angelus address, according to CNN.

Saturday, during an address to Maltese dignitaries and officials, Francis blamed a “potentate, sadly caught up in anachronistic claims of nationalist interests” for casting “dark shadows of war” in eastern Europe, the Times reported.

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