"I'm ready to do whatever it takes. There is a mission in progress, but it is not yet public. If it is, I will reveal it," the Catholic bishop said, without giving further details about those efforts.
"I believe that peace can only be made by opening the channels. You can never achieve peace through isolation"
said the pope.
As he said, he discussed the situation in Ukraine with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Metropolitan Hilarion, the governor of the diocese of Budapest-Hungary of the Russian Orthodox Church.
"At the meetings, we didn't just talk about Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. We discussed all these things. Everyone was interested in the road to peace"
Pope Francis emphasized.
Since the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine last February, the head of the Catholic Church has been urging peace on an almost weekly basis and has repeatedly expressed his willingness to act as a mediator between Kiev and Moscow.
On Thursday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denisz Smihal discussed peace efforts, the humanitarian situation, and the churches of Ukraine with Pope Francis in the Vatican. Smihal also invited the head of the Catholic Church to visit the Ukrainian capital.
The 86-year-old Pope Francis had previously spoken about visiting Kiev and Moscow as part of a peace mission.
In the interview, Pope Francis also spoke about his health in connection with his hospitalization at the end of March, when he needed medical care for bronchitis.
"I didn't lose consciousness, but I had a high fever and at three in the afternoon the doctor took me straight to the hospital," Pope Francis explained what happened on March 29.
"He had severe and acute pneumonia in the lower part of the lungs. Thank God I can report this. My body took the treatment well, thank God," added Pope Francis, who contracted pneumonia at the age of twenty-one, and his life could only be saved by removing half of his lung.
He emphasized that for the time being there are no changes regarding his planned trips to Portugal, France and Mongolia.
MTI
Featured image: Pope Francis arrives for Mass in his papal mobile at Kossuth Square in front of the Parliament on the third day of his three-day apostolic visit to Hungary, April 30, 2023. (Photo: MTI/Zoltán Máthé)
