Pope Francis admits to helping return children taken to Russia

Pope Francis admitted this Sunday that the Holy See can help in the return of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken to Russia.

“The Holy See has been working as an intermediary in some of the prisoner exchange situations through the Russian embassy in the Holy See and I believe it can work in this case as well,” he said during the return trip to Italy at the end of the three-day visit to Hungary. .

The Pope thus responded to questions from journalists about the request of the Prime Minister of Ukraine to help the return of children.

Stressing that “the Holy See is always willing to do everything for just causes”, the leader of the Catholic Church also appealed for “not to stop the commitment” in helping Ukrainian refugees.

During the traditional conversation with journalists on board the papal plane, Francis also asked Europe to make a fair distribution of migrants, emphasizing that it cannot always be Malta, Cyprus, Spain, Italy and Greece that suffer from the situation.

“It is a problem that has to be addressed, it is in these five countries that the majority” of migrants disembark, he said, refusing to say whether he discussed the issue with the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, who maintains a tough anti-government policy. -immigration.

Another of the topics covered during the press conference was the return of art objects that are in the Vatican and that date back to the colonization of the American continent.

“As far as possible, please, we have to return it”, said the leader of the Catholic church, regarding the petition of the indigenous peoples of Canada about pieces of art that are in the Vatican museum.

“Negotiations are underway” and dialogue with indigenous peoples has been “very fruitful”, he said, noting that some pieces have already been returned as a sign of goodwill.

“It is the seventh commandment, if you stole…”, said the Pope, arguing that it is necessary to make a judgment on each case, because otherwise “the Egyptians come to complain and we cannot give them back the obelisk [da praça de São Pedro]”, he said, concluding that “when you can, give it back, please, so that no one gets used to putting their hand in other people’s pockets”.