PRESS RELEASE : Head of President’s Office holds meeting with journalists from Vatican, representatives of Catholic media [December 2022]

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 9 December 2022.

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak met with representatives of the Catholic mass media.

The event was attended by: journalist of the National Catholic Reporter Christopher White (the United States), special journalist of La Croix in Vatican Loup Besmond de Senneville (France), journalist of ACI Stampa/EWTN Andrea Gagliarducci (Italy), representative of ANSA press agency Manuela Tulli (Italy), photo-journalist Marcin Mazur (the United Kingdom) and journalist of the official Media of Vatican VaticanNews Salvatore Cernuzio.

At the meeting, the head of the Office of the President answered questions concerning relations between Ukraine and the Vatican, and talked about the contribution that Pope Francis can make to end the unjust war started by Russia.

Yermak called strong the Pope’s recent statements about the Ukrainian people as a martyr nation suffering from the brutality of the invading troops. The pontiff also directly stated that the attacker is the Russian state.

“Pope Francis has such a powerful weapon as the faith of the laity and the word of God, and our country needs it very much. We hope he will support Ukraine on the way to a just peace,” the head of the President’s Office said.