A senior Vatican official called for an end to the war in Ukraine after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, whose position at the Vatican is analogous to a foreign minister, said that as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, it “creates new victims … and renders future reconciliation ever more difficult.”
“It is therefore urgent and necessary to end and to look beyond the conflict,” Gallagher said, speaking alongside Lavrov at a joint press conference following their meeting.
He also said that he and Lavrov had discussed avenues toward peace in Ukraine and that the two had agreed to cooperate on humanitarian matters such as caring for children impacted by the war.
Gallagher, the Vatican’s second-highest diplomatic official, last visited Moscow for talks with Lavrov in 2021, the year before President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Pope Leo has repeatedly called for an end to the conflict. In an appeal earlier this month, he lamented the “ever-growing number of civilian victims, including children,” as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Gallagher said Tuesday that the Vatican would “continue to provide strong spiritual, diplomatic and humanitarian support by contributing to and offering a space for dialogue” to end the conflict.
