Pope Francis expressed hope that after visiting Canada this month, he could visit Moscow and Kyiv as soon as possible.
He said this in an interview with Reuters, Yevropeyska Pravda reports.
Speaking about the situation in Ukraine, Pope Francis noted that Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had contacts regarding a possible trip to Moscow.
The agency notes that no pontiff has ever visited Moscow, and Pope Francis has repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Last Thursday, he indirectly accused her of waging a "brutal and senseless war of aggression."
The Vatican asked the Russian Federation about the trip a few months ago. The Pope then noted that Moscow responded about the discrepancy of the moment.
Now the pontiff has hinted that the situation may have changed now.
"I would like to go (to Ukraine), and I wanted to go to Moscow first. We exchanged messages about this because I thought that if only the Russian president would give me a small window to serve the cause of peace. Perhaps, I could go to Ukraine after returning from Canada," he said.
"First of all, we need to go to Russia to try to help in some way, but I would like to visit both capitals," the Pope added.
Pope Francis visits Canada from July 24 to 30 (visit program).
Earlier, Pope Francis said that he does not support the president of the aggressor country Vladimir Putin, but refused to talk about "good and evil" in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine.