Moscow: the Holy See's envoy pleads for an end to the war

The Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, met Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow on 25 August 2026. The meeting, held at the ministry's headquarters in the presence of the apostolic nuncio Giovanni d'Aniello, lasted more than an hour and concerned the war in Ukraine. The prelate recalled Pope Leo XIV's appeal to halt hostilities and to enter into «genuine negotiations» with the support of the international community, and he asked both belligerents to respect international and humanitarian law toward civilians, infrastructure, the wounded and prisoners. His host called the exchange «very useful» and welcomed the Holy See's openness to dialogue with Russia.

What the Church has always taught about peace

Peace is not the passing absence of arms, nor the balance of two forces that fear each other: it is the tranquillity of order, the fruit of justice and charity. Princes bear before God the grave duty of averting the scourge of war so long as an honourable means remains open, for the fifth commandment forbids all shedding of blood that justice does not compel. «Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.» He who presses two armies to lay down their arms and to render their due to the wounded and the captives invents nothing: he carries out a law older than states.

The measure

That an envoy of the Holy See should ask, before the power that wages the war, for respect toward civilians, the wounded and prisoners, and should recall that a conflict is not settled by arms, is to speak the constant language of the Church: to offer its good offices without embracing any side. The journey, the first by a head of pontifical diplomacy to Russia since 2021, runs until 27 August, with an announced meeting with the Russian president's diplomatic adviser, a conversation with the Catholic clergy, and a Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The evening before, the prelate had spoken with Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk; and it has been indicated that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi is to travel to Moscow again. But diplomacy only opens a door: true peace supposes justice rendered and the return of hearts to God, without which treaties are but a truce. We take note of the step and measure it by that standard, without lending it more than it bears.

Sources. Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), on the fifth commandment; Saint Augustine, De civitate Dei, XIX, 13, on peace as «the tranquillity of order»; Gospel according to Saint Matthew, V, 9, in the Vulgate; Pius XII, radio message of 24 August 1939: «Nothing is lost with peace; all may be lost with war.»