Pope reveals that he is involved in a secret peacekeeping mission in Ukraine

Pope Francis revealed yesterday that he is involved in a secret peacekeeping mission to try to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, while pledging to do everything in his power to end the conflict.

‘I’m available for anything. There is a mission in progress that is not public; if it is public, I will talk about it,” the 86-year-old pope told reporters on a flight home after a three-day visit to Hungary.

“I think peace is always made by opening channels. You can never achieve peace by closing. … This is not easy.’

Francis, who has been an outspoken advocate for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, added that the Vatican was also willing to help repatriate Ukrainian children brought to Russia since the conflict began.

But the pointiff comments came as Vladimir Putin unleashed a series of missiles on Ukraine, killing one person and wounding three others in the Kherson region.

Ukrainian air defense crews managed to destroy 15 of 18 missiles launched from Russian aircraft, but the shelling injured 25 people in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

The latest missile strike came three days after Russia fired 20 cruise missiles at cities and towns across Ukraine, killing at least 23 people, including a mother and her two-year-old daughter.

In recent months, Francis has become increasingly critical of Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The pope said he had discussed the war in Ukraine with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Metropolitan Hilarion, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest.

‘In these meetings we have not only talked about Little Red Riding Hood. We talked about all these things. Everyone is interested in the road to peace,” Francis said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago, Francis has pleaded for peace almost weekly and repeatedly expressed a desire to act as a mediator between Kiev and Moscow. His offer has so far not led to a breakthrough.

Pope Francis has previously said he wants to visit Kiev as well as Moscow for a peacekeeping mission.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met the pope at the Vatican on Thursday and said he had discussed a “peace formula” proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Shmyhal also asked for help with the repatriation of children. Kiev estimates that nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea since Moscow invaded last February, in what it condemns as illegal deportations.

Francis said the Holy See had already helped broker some prisoner exchanges and would do “everything humanly possible” to reunite families.

“The Holy See is willing to do this (help repatriate the children) because it is the right thing,” Francis said on the plane. “All human gestures help, but gestures of cruelty don’t help. We must do everything humanly possible.”

In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Children’s Commissioner, charging them with war crimes for kidnapping children from Ukraine.

Francis, who appeared in relatively good shape during the trip, also spoke of his health following his hospitalization in late March for what the Vatican said at the time was bronchitis.

He said that on Wednesday, March 29, he felt strong pain at the end of his general audience and tried to sleep.

“I didn’t lose consciousness, but I had a high fever and at 3 p.m. the doctor immediately took me to the hospital,” he said.

“It was a strong and acute pneumonia in the lower part of the lung. Thank God I can talk about it. The body responded well to the treatment, thank God,” he said. He was released on April 1.

Part of one of his lungs was removed when he was a young man in Argentina more than half a century ago.

The pope said there are no changes to plans to go to Lisbon in August for an international youth meeting and then separately to Marseille and Mongolia.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Russia launched missiles overnight at cities and regions across the country.

In Kherson, one person and three others – including a child – were injured in the attacks, while Moscow is stepping up its attacks.

“In the past day, the enemy carried out 39 shellings, during which 163 shells were fired by heavy artillery, Grads, UAVs and aviation. The enemy shelled the city of Kherson 8 times,” said Oleksandr Prokudin, of the military administration for Kherson, in southern Ukraine.

“As a result of Russian aggression, one person died and three others, including a child, were injured.”

Russia still controls part of the Kherson region after withdrawing from the eponymous regional capital last November.

Shelling also injured 25 people in Dnipropetrovsk oblast and damaged dozens of buildings in the city of Pavlohrad, the regional administration said.

Earlier this week, regional authorities said Russian shelling killed a 57-year-old woman and wounded three other people in the village of Bilozerka.

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram that 18 missiles were launched from Russian aircraft, 15 of which were destroyed.

Ukraine’s air defense systems have been bolstered in recent months by supplies of Western equipment, including the US Patriot systems received in April.

The latest Russian attacks came as Kiev prepared for a long-awaited counter-offensive after vowing to drive Russian forces out of territory they had taken to the east and south following their 2022 invasion.

A Ukrainian attack on a Russian border village before dawn on Sunday killed four people and injured two others, officials there said.