The Vatican’s foreign minister is due to visit Moscow later this month, according to Russia’s largest state-owned news agency.  

In a statement issued by TASS this afternoon, news was shared of an impending visit to Moscow by Archbishop Richard Gallagher, who serves as the Holy See’s foreign minister, or more technically the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.

Gallagher’s visit “is planned for August 20th”, according to a Vatican source cited by TASS. No further information was given by TASS or the source it cited, nor has the Vatican yet replied to the Catholic Herald’s request for comment on the matter. TASS is the largest news agency in Russia, being both owned and operated by the state.

If such a visit by Archbishop Gallagher does indeed take place then it would be the first such by the Vatican’s foreign minister since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022. Gallagher last visited Russia in November 2021, although he has spoken over the telephone with Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov since then. On April 4 last year, Gallagher and Lavrov telephoned to discuss “the overall picture of world politics, with particular attention to the situation of the war in Ukraine and some initiatives aimed at stopping the military actions.”  

According to the Holy See press statement, the pair also discussed the Vatican’s willingness to “continue its humanitarian effort in matters regarding the exchange of prisoners” along with “some matters regarding religious life and, in particular, the situation of the Catholic Church in the Russian Federation.”

Extra detail shared by the Russian Foreign Ministry about last April’s phone call noted that Lavrov and Gallagher spoke about “the permanent settlement of the Ukrainian crisis through the removal of its root causes”, and that the conversation was at the Vatican’s request.  

Leo XIV spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone in early June last year, during which the Pope asked Putin “to make a gesture that would promote peace.”

Gallagher – and thus the Vatican’s Secretariat of State – have not visited Russia since the start of the war in 2022. Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin has met briefly with Lavrov on two occasions at the sidelines of U.N. meetings in New York, but not gone to Russia himself either.  

But in the meantime Cardinal Matteo Zuppi has conducted visits to both Ukraine and Russia on behalf of Pope Francis. Francis appointed Zuppi as his personal peace envoy in May 2023, entrusting the president of the Italian bishops conference to “initiate paths of peace” between the two nations. This role has seen Zuppi travel not just to Russia and Ukraine, but also to Beijing and Washington D.C. as China and America have become increasingly involved in the structure of any peace negotiations.  

Pope Francis’ appointment of Zuppi to the role has been questioned by some seasoned Vatican analysts, given that it thus bypassed the Secretariat of State – the proper organ for such a mission – and such criticism only grew when questions about Zuppi’s effectiveness were raised after his initial success began to dry up.  

Gallagher has not shied away from making clear his own position regarding Russia, something which is hardly likely to be negligible during any potential discussions. In a February 2025 interview with America Magazine, Gallagher noted that “the decision to invade was Russia’s alone”.

The Holy See is keen to defend the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”, he said, while noting that the Vatican did not claim to define Ukraine’s borders but simply the nation’s ability to do so itself: “What the Ukrainians may wish to negotiate or what they are prepared to concede is their affair, their business, and we need to support them.”

The English prelate added how it “doesn’t look very likely” that Ukraine will regain territory from Russia, and that “if they’re going to settle for less, will that be a just peace?” Such questions “will eventually have to be hammered out in negotiations,” he opined.  

Externally the Vatican has presented a somewhat mixed message on the issue of Russia and Ukraine since February 2022. Pope Francis famously made a rare visit to the Russian embassy to the Holy See the day after the war began, to “show his concern for the war.”

But he also drew criticism over successive years from those who argued that the pope was too critical of Ukraine and too silent about Russia. Gallagher’s 2025 interview with America – a rare foray into the media sphere for him – presented a much firmer stance from the Holy See regarding Russia.  

Pope Leo has met three times with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the president inviting Leo to visit Ukraine.

The Vatican has previously been suggested as a potential site for peace negotiations, but Russia rejected the offer.

Full diplomatic relations were established between Russia and the Holy See in 2009, after many years of attempts to improve strained relations.

Michael Haynes is an English journalist in the Holy See Press Corps. He serves as Vatican Correspondent for the Catholic Herald, while readers can follow him at Per Mariam and on X @MLJHaynes.