ROME, November 17. /TASS/. Pope Francis remains ready to visit both Moscow and Kiev but no talks are being held now to organize such trips, the Vatican’s Secretary of State said.
"The Roman Pontiff would like to go to both capitals. If the conditions for the trip were right, he would go there and there [to Russia and to Ukraine], that is, he would also visit Kiev," Cardinal Pietro Parolin said on the air with the Sky TG24 television channel.
"The Pope’s visit has not been discussed at this point but remains on the horizon because Pope Francis is ready to go anywhere to put an end to this war, where both sides are suffering enormous losses," the Holy See’s spokesman added.
He recalled the mission of President of the Episcopal Conference of Italy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has already visited Kiev, Moscow, Washington and Beijing to talk about finding a settlement, with humanitarian matters being the focus of his trip. "We are largely dealing with the humanitarian side. That is, the liberation and exchange of prisoners of war and preparation of lists of children for return. The mechanism has been worked out but there are certain difficulties," Parolin noted.