Cardinal Parolin visits war-torn Ukraine

The Vatican Secretary of State’s last trip to the country was in August 2021.

The Vatican’s top diplomat began a five-day visit Friday to war-torn Ukraine.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, pictured at the Vatican on Sept. 30, 2023. © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

In his first trip to the country since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Cardinal Pietro Parolin will meet with civil and religious leaders in the capital, Kyiv, amid ongoing efforts to end the war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. 

The official purpose of the Vatican Secretary of State’s visit is to represent Pope Francis at the July 21 closing celebration of a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Berdychiv, northwestern Ukraine.

The pilgrimage is the largest annual event organized by the Latin Church in Ukraine, one of the four sui iuris Catholic Churches in the country, alongside the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, and the Armenian Catholic Church.

Latin Catholics from across Ukraine — Europe’s second-largest country by area after Russia — will gather at the shrine to pray for peace before a revered icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Bishop Vitaliy Skomarovskyi, president of Ukraine’s Latin Rite bishops’ conference, told Vatican News that while bishops from other countries typically led the celebrations, this year would mark the first time a Vatican Secretary of State has presided.

“This gesture expresses Pope Francis’ closeness to our people, and I hope this common prayer will bear great fruit,” he said.

Skomarovskyi stressed that there were “no completely safe places” in Ukraine, but the  celebrations in Berdychiv would follow security regulations.

“It would be completely different if there was no war,” he commented.

Parolin’s trip was scheduled to begin with a brief stop July 19 at the residence of Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki in Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine. 

Before his appointment as Archbishop of Lviv of the Latins in 2008, Mokrzycki served as secretary to popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Parolin will then travel to the historic southwestern port city of Odesa, which Russia has repeatedly targeted with missiles and drones. 

After celebrating the closing Mass of the Berdychiv pilgrimage, the cardinal will head to Kyiv, where he will visit the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s cathedral and greet the Eastern Church’s leader, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk.

Parolin will then meet with representatives from the country’s civil and religious authorities.

The cardinal, who has served as Secretary of State since 2013, previously visited Ukraine in June 2016 and August 2021.

Vatican “foreign minister” Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher traveled to the country more recently, in May 2022.

Papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski has visited Ukraine eight times with Pope Francis’ blessing, delivering ambulances, medicine, and other aid.

In June 2023, Vatican peace envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi traveled to Kyiv, where he met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Working with the Vatican Secretariat of State, Zuppi has sought humanitarian gestures such as the release of Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia and prisoners of war.

Earlier this month, Olena Kondratiuk, the vice speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, expressed gratitude for the Holy See’s interventions.

At a meeting with Archbishop Gallagher, she “noted the success of the Vatican’s efforts to return Ukrainian prisoners of war  and deported children.” 

“The recent release of two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests from Russian captivity was due to the efforts and mediation of the Vatican,” she said, referring to the liberation of Fr. Ivan Levitsky and Fr. Bohdan Geleta in June, more than 18 months after they were arrested in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

Last month, Parolin attended Switzerland’s Summit on Peace in Ukraine as an observer. 

In an address, he said: “Despite all the challenges, the Holy See remains committed to maintaining regular communication with the Ukrainian and Russian authorities, and remains prepared to assist in the implementation of potential mediation initiatives that are acceptable to all parties and benefit those who have been affected.”

He later lamented Russia’s absence from the peace summit. 

“Peace is always made together,” he said.

On the day Parolin departed for Ukraine, Pope Francis issued a message appealing for a global truce to be observed during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

“In these troubled times, when world peace is under serious threat, it is my fervent wish that everyone will take this truce to heart, in the hope of resolving conflicts and restoring harmony,” the pope said.