The secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Holy See, Paul Richard Gallagher, will travel to Russia next week and will meet on Tuesday, August 25 in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The trip, which will take place from August 24 to 28, will be the first by the head of Vatican diplomacy to the country since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed the visit and the meeting with Lavrov on Thursday. According to her explanation, both will address the state and prospects of relations between the Russian Federation and the Holy See, cooperation in international organizations, and various international issues of common interest. For the moment, no meeting between Gallagher and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been announced.
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The confirmation solidifies a trip that had begun to emerge in early August and whose dates were still not finalized. Gallagher’s last visit to Russia took place in November 2021, a few months before the start of the war. On that occasion, he met, among others, with Lavrov and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
From Kyiv to Moscow in just over a month
The trip will take place a few weeks after Gallagher’s visit to Ukraine as a representative of Leo XIV on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the reestablishment of the structures of the Latin-rite Catholic Church in the country.
During that stay in July, Gallagher visited Lviv, Berdychiv, and Kyiv, Ukraine. On July 19, he presided over a celebration at the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Berdychiv and later held a meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Among the issues discussed were the war, the search for a just and lasting peace, and the humanitarian consequences of the conflict.
The Holy See has maintained channels of dialogue with both Kyiv and Moscow during the war. Last February, on the fourth anniversary of the invasion, Gallagher had called for the «political courage necessary» to establish diplomatic channels that would allow progress toward a just and lasting peace.
Russia expects «concrete and interesting proposals»
Expectations regarding the visit have already been expressed from Moscow. The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council of Russia, Grigory Karasin, declared on Wednesday that the authorities expect to hear from Gallagher «concrete and interesting proposals» or assessments of the international situation.
«We hope that the visit will lead to positive changes or, at least, create a context for common sense to continue advancing,» Karasin told the Russian state agency TASS.
The agenda known so far does not allow for anticipation of a specific political mediation by the Holy See. The meeting with Lavrov will, however, mark the resumption in person at the highest level of contacts between the head of the Vatican’s international relations and the Russian government after nearly five years.
The trip will also take place against the backdrop of relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, strained by the ecclesial consequences of the war in Ukraine. The Holy See has kept dialogue with the Patriarchate of Moscow open during the conflict, while continuing its diplomatic and humanitarian contacts with the authorities of both countries.