ROME — Pope Francis has sent his representative Cardinal Konrad Krajewski to Ukraine for the fourth time, to let the Ukrainian people know they are not alone.
“Let us continue to pray for the Ukrainian people, that the Lord may give them comfort and hope,” the pontiff told the 20,000 pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for his Angelus message Sunday.
The pope went on to say that Cardinal Krajewski, who heads up the Vatican’s office for the Service of Charity, is currently in Ukraine to visit various communities and to “bear concrete witness to the closeness of the Pope and the Church.”
During this visit, the cardinal will visit Odessa, Žytomyr, Kharkiv, and other destinations in eastern Ukraine.
Pope Francis in audience the children and their parents assisted by the Santa Marta Pediatric Dispensary in the Paul VI Hall. Beside the pope, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski. (Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Last Monday, Francis said he cannot personally travel to Ukraine on doctor’s orders due to an ongoing knee problem, but the Vatican confirmed he will instead travel to Kazakhstan for a September 13-15 gathering of religious leaders in the capital Nur-Sultan.
The pope said Sunday that his visit to Kazakhstan will be “an opportunity to meet many religious representatives and to engage in dialogue as brothers, inspired by the mutual desire for peace, the peace our world thirsts for.”
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill was slated to attend the summit where he was expected to meet with Pope Francis, but in late August a senior Russian Orthodox official said that Kirill had cancelled his plans to attend the congress, scrapping chances for a meeting between the two leaders.