According to Andriy Yurash, Ukraine’s new Ambassador to the Holy See, the announced visit of Pope Francis to his country is still far from certain. The visit would take place in 2022.
Newsroom (07/01/2021 10:03 AM, Gaudium Press) Andriy Yurash, Ukraine’s new Ambassador to the Holy See, has been in Rome since last month. In a recent interview with the Ukrainian website glavcom.ua, he assures that Ukraine is ready to organize the Pope’s visit and will make every effort to do so. But no date has yet been set and Russian diplomacy, both the state and the Orthodox Church, is doing everything it can to prevent the Pope from going to Ukraine. The Ambassador refers to the recent statements by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, who considers such a visit by the Pope to Ukraine unlikely.
Yurash seems convinced that a Papal visit can help bring peace to a society deeply wounded by the pain and tragedy of war, based on Francis’ many calls for dialogue to restore peace in eastern Ukraine. The Ambassador also warned that the present tensions between the Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Moscow Orthodox Church in Ukraine leave the Pope with no options but to remain aloof and make no statements on the subject.
With files from glavcom.ua
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