Vatican-Ukraine: Archbishop Gallagher in Kiev, between war fatigue and theology of forgiveness

The Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See visits bombed-out Kiev and meets with Archbishop Shevchuk. Vatican diplomacy perseveres in prayer and the word of truth.

The Fact

On July 18, 2026, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, visits Kiev and goes to the recently bombed sites of the capital. Vatican News, in its English, French, German, and Portuguese editions, relays his message: "Persevere in prayer for peace." The Major Archbishop of the Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who receives the visit, insists on the necessity of forgiveness and reconciliation "to heal the memory of the peoples" of Europe. Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki, Latin Archbishop of Lviv, confides on his part that "the people are tired; our hope is in God."

Our Reading

The Holy See's diplomacy in Ukraine is based on a constant doctrine. It refuses the logic of bloc against bloc and seeks the concrete man, wounded, behind the interests of States. The words of Archbishop Shevchuk on the "healing of memories" are not of a therapeutic order: they refer to the theology of forgiveness developed by Saint John Paul II in Dives in misericordia (1980) and Ut unum sint (1995), texts that the Greek Catholic patriarch knows from the inside. This healing presupposes the public recognition of the crimes committed, the conversion of hearts, and a justice that is not vengeance. The encyclical Pacem in terris (John XXIII, 1963) remains the matrix: peace is not decreed in Geneva or Brussels, it is cultivated in truth, justice, love, and freedom.

To Ponder

Three and a half years of large-scale war: fatigue sets in. But Christian hope is not a circumstantial optimism. It is the assurance that the crucified Christ abandons no people. Let us pray for the Catholics of Ukraine, Latins and Greek Catholics united in a single suffering Church, and for the diplomatic mission of the Holy See which, without arms or interests, refuses to despair of peace.