“Today, in a special way, six months since the start of the war, let us think of Ukraine and Russia, two countries I consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.... We need peace.”

After Pope Francis met with Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, the ambassador suggested that a papal visit to that war-torn country may happen in the near future.

For the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis received in a private audience this morning a top-ranking member of the Russian Orthodox Church, second only to patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

Pope Francis will travel next month to Kazakhstan, where he could meet with Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has supported Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

“We’re getting to a very dangerous situation worldwide,” the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states said, “and it wouldn’t take much to make things even worse” and to arrive at “a world in conflict.”

In an address to members of three religious orders, the pope asked for "zero tolerance" for abusers in the church and expressed his "closeness" with the people of Ukraine.