ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM HUNGARY — The Holy See has a project underway related to peace between Russia and Ukraine, but Pope Francis told reporters he could not talk about it yet.
“There is a mission underway that is not public yet; when it is public, I will tell you about it,” Pope Francis told reporters traveling with him from Budapest, Hungary, back to Rome April 30.
He also said discussions already were underway with Indigenous communities in Canada for the repatriation of cultural artifacts held in the Vatican Museums.
Pope Francis had been asked whether, after giving three fragments of the Parthenon marbles to the Orthodox Church of Greece in March, he was planning to do the same with artifacts that have been traced to the Inuit, Métis and First Nations communities of Canada.
“This is the Seventh Commandment: if you have stolen something, you must give it back,” he said. “The restitution of Indigenous articles is underway with Canada – at least we had agreed to do it.”
On his two-hour flight back to Rome from Budapest, Pope Francis spent about 20 minutes answering five questions from reporters traveling with him. Other topics included his health, his travel plans and his discussions in Budapest with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and with Russia Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary.
Asked if he had spoken about peace in Ukraine or sought contacts with Moscow during his meetings with Orbán, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and with Metropolitan Hilarion, the pope responded that “peace is made by opening channels. You cannot create peace with closure. I invite everyone to open doors, channels of friendship.”
“I am willing to do anything that must be done” to promote peace, he said.
During the inflight news conference, Pope Francis refused to criticize Orbán directly on migration even though the prime minister has enacted a tough “no migrants” policy and built fences along Hungary’s borders with Serbia and Croatia.
Asked about Hungary’s policy, Pope Francis insisted – as he has before – that the European Union must act. Currently he said, only five countries – Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and Malta – are bearing a disproportionate burden in taking in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing poverty and civil strife.
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