The Holy See confirmed that its top diplomat will travel to Moscow this week for talks with senior Russian officials. Source: The Tablet.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations, will visit Moscow on August 24-28 for “intensive talks and meetings [which] will combine the specifically diplomatic dimension of the visit with an ecclesial one”, according to Vatican News.
It reported that Archbishop Gallagher will also meet representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate and members of Russia’s small Catholic community.
Russia’s foreign ministry announced the visit on Thursday, confirming that the archbishop will meet the foreign minister Sergei Lavrov tomorrow.
Their meeting “will include an exchange of views on the current state and prospects of bilateral cooperation between Russia and the Vatican, as well as interaction at multilateral forums”, according to the ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
A Kremlin spokesman said there was no scheduled meeting between Archbishop Gallagher and President Vladimir Putin.
Archbishop Gallagher’s last in-person meeting with Mr Lavrov was during his last visit to Moscow in November 2021, three months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They spoke on a call in April last year, discussing the “humanitarian sphere” of the conflict.
The following month, Mr Lavrov said it would be “unrealistic” for the Vatican to host peace negotiations, as the newly elected Pope Leo had reportedly proposed.
Speaking to reporters in Moscow on Saturday, Mr Lavrov claimed that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his allies were “being weaponised and incited against Russia” and rejected the idea of opening negotiations with western governments.
Archbishop Gallagher’s arrival in Moscow today coincides with the anniversary of Ukraine’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian religious leaders asked Churches worldwide to mark August 24 with prayers for peace.
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Archbishop Gallagher to hold ‘intensive talks’ in Moscow (By Patrick Hudson, The Tablet)
