In remarks after his Angelus for the Feasts of Sts. Peter and Paul today, Pope Francis publicly welcomed the release of two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests. Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the release of 10 civilians, including two priests, and thanked the Vatican for acting as an intermediary.
"I thank God for the release of the two Greek Catholic priests," Pope Francis said after the Angelus. He invited the crowd to pray that "all the prisoners of this war will soon return home."
Expressing his "pain" for the "brothers and sisters who suffer because of the war," and for "all the wounded populations, threatened by the fighting," the head of the Catholic Church hoped "that God will free them, support them, in the struggle for peace."
Zelensky's announcement
On June 28, on the social network X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the release and return to Ukraine of ten civilians who had been taken prisoner in Russia and Belarus. He mentioned that among them were two priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Bohdan Heleta and Ivan Levytskyi, who "were captured in Berdyansk for resisting the occupiers." The two Redemptorists had remained in occupied territories to care for Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic communities there.
“I would also like to recognize the Holy See's efforts to bring these people home,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his tweet. The prisoner release is in part due to the efforts of Vatican diplomacy in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. At the peace conference held in Switzerland on June 15 and 16, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin made assurances that the Holy See "remains ready to assist in the implementation of potential mediation initiatives."
He also called for the return of Ukrainian children to their families.
