By Philip Pullella and Francesca Piscioneri

VATICAN CITY, (Reuters) – Pope Francis stated in a Tuesday interview that he had asked for a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow to end the conflict in Ukraine. However, he has not yet received a response.

According to Italy’s Corriere Della Sera, the pope stated that Kirill the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Russia, who gave the war his support, “cannot be Putin’s altar boy”.

Francis visited the Russian Embassy in an unheard of manner when war broke out. The newspaper was told that he had asked the Vatican’s top diplomat for a message from Putin about three weeks before the war began.

He said, “That I would be willing to travel to Moscow.” The Kremlin leader had to be open for this message. “We have yet to receive a reply and are insisting.”

I fear Putin will not and cannot agree to this meeting. How can you stop such brutality? He said that he had lived in Rwanda twenty-five years before the violence in Ukraine.

Francis (85) had never mentioned Russia and Putin in public since February 24, when the conflict began. However, he made no secret of his criticisms for Russia and Putin by using terms like unjustified invasion and aggression as well as lamenting the atrocities perpetrated against civilians.

The pope was asked about the possibility of a visit to Kyiv (the Ukrainian capital), which Francis suggested last month. He said that he wouldn’t go at the moment.

First, I must go to Moscow. Second, I must meet Putin. It’s all I can do. He said that Putin should only be able to open the door.

STAINED RELATIONS

The conflict in Ukraine has caused friction between Vatican and Russian Orthodox churches and caused divisions among Orthodox Christians worldwide.

Reuters reported that on April 11, the Vatican considered extending Pope Francis’ trip to Lebanon from June 12-13 by one day, so he could have a meeting with Kirill in Jerusalem on June 14. However, Francis later rescinded the request.

Francis claimed that during the 40-minute video conference on March 16 with Kirill, Francis read from a sheet paper and spent the other half reading “all the justifications” for war.

Moscow refers to its actions in Ukraine as “special operations” that aim to “denazify and demilitarize its neighbor. Kirill, 75 years old, views the war as an ally against a West that he finds decadent. This includes the acceptance of homosexuality.

“We (Kirill and the pope) are both pastors to the same people. This is why it’s important to find paths to peace to stop the violence. Francis said that the patriarch could not become Putin’s altarboy.”

Also, the pope said that Viktor Orban was the Hungarian prime minster who told him when he met with him on April 21 that “the Russian have an plan that everything will end at May 9”. This is the anniversary of Russia’s liberation from World War II.

Sergei Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister) said that Ukraine’s anniversary wouldn’t have any bearing on Moscow’s military operations there.