Archbishop Gallagher begins visit to Ukraine; Cardinal Zuppi concludes mission there

July 18, 2026

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, began a four-day visit to Ukraine on July 17. Archbishop Gallagher is Pope Leo’s special envoy for the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the renewal of the structures of the Latin-rite Church in Ukraine.

“A just end to the war means restoring peace to this part of Europe,” Archbishop Gallagher said at a meeting with Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki, the Latin-rite archbishop of Lviv.

The Church and Pope Leo “have not forgotten the suffering of the Ukrainian people and their sacrifices,” Archbishop Gallagher added. “We must create the right conditions for a just peace.”

Archbishop Gallagher later visited Ukrainian Catholic University, where he met with Archbishop Borys Gudziak, the Ukrainian Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia. Archbishop Gallagher subsequently met with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

On July 16, Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi of Bologna concluded his own visit to Ukraine, made at the Pope’s behest. At meetings with Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha and offer officials, the parties discussed the release of prisons and the repatriation of Ukrainian children taken to Russia.

 

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Further information:

• Ukraine: Archbishop Gallagher calls for the conditions for a just peace (Vatican News, 7/17/26)
• Cardinal Zuppi concludes Ukraine mission: ‘Every effort for peace will be made' (Vatican News, 7/16/26)
• Metropolitan Borys Gudziak Meets with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher in Lviv (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, 7/18/26)