Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign minister, began the five-day trip Monday, more than three years after full-scale fighting broke out. His last visit to the Russian capital came in November 2021, just months before the invasion.
Vatican News described the journey as "diplomacy and dialogue in service of peace", and Vatican officials said it reflects the Holy See's intent to keep engaging with Moscow "even in one of the most difficult periods for international relations globally". The trip follows repeated calls from Pope Leo XIV for an end to the war.
Despite the high-profile visit, a meeting with President Vladimir Putin is not on the agenda. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said before Gallagher's arrival that no such meeting was planned; the archbishop is instead expected to sit down with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Gallagher's itinerary also includes talks with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church and visits with Russia's small Catholic minority, a community spread thin across the country and centered on the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, along with dioceses in Saratov, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. He is expected to meet with local bishops, clergy and parishioners.
The visit builds on years of quiet Vatican outreach to Moscow since the war began. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the pope's special envoy for Ukraine, has held his own talks with Russian officials, and Metropolitan Anthony, who leads external relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, was received by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican last July.
That outreach has run parallel to the Vatican's engagement with Kyiv. Gallagher visited Ukraine in July, meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and celebrated Mass at a shrine in Berdychiv marking the 25th anniversary of St. John Paul II's pilgrimage to Ukraine. Zuppi also traveled to Ukraine that month and told reporters Sunday he hopes to return to Moscow by the end of September.
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Source: PAP