Ukraine: Leon XIV appoints Cardinal Gallagher for jubilee celebrations

Zenit reports that Cardinal Gallagher is appointed as the pope's representative for the 2025 Jubilee of the Catholic Church in Ukraine.

The fact

According to Zenit FR, on July 22, 2026, Leo XIV designated Cardinal Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, as his representative for the jubilee celebrations of the Catholic Church in Ukraine. The gesture is part of the Ordinary Jubilee 2025, proclaimed by the bull Spes non confundit of Pope Francis on May 9, 2024. The precise schedule of celebrations in Ukrainian territory has not yet been made public. We reported on July 18 about the previous visit of the same Mgr Gallagher to Kiev, between war fatigue and theology of forgiveness.

Our reading

The choice of Cardinal Gallagher for an ecclesiastical service in Ukraine is not neutral. Head of the Vatican diplomacy since 2014, he embodies the line of a discreet but real commitment of the Holy See alongside Kiev, in a narrow space: assumed humanitarian support to Ukrainian victims, channels open up to Moscow. By sending him back to Ukraine for a jubilee reason three weeks after his previous visit, Leo XIV emphasizes that the mission of the Church, even in a country at war, remains first of all to celebrate Christian hope. The bull Spes non confundit recalls, from its introduction, that Christian hope is not an illusion but confidence in the faithfulness of God, particularly for those who suffer.

To ponder

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the number of Ukrainian civilians killed since February 2022 is counted in the tens of thousands, the war having entered its fifth year. Pray for a just peace, for the civilian victims, and for the shepherds who carry hope in the night.