Pope expresses desire to visit war-hit Ukraine as he starts Canada trip

VATICAN CITY • Pope Francis said yesterday that he yearned to visit Ukraine, in his efforts to try to bring an end to a five-month-old war that he has repeatedly decried.

"I have a great desire to go to Kyiv," he said when asked about a possible future trip to Ukraine. He was speaking on the papal plane to journalists travelling with him from Rome to Canada.

No pope has ever visited Moscow, and Pope Francis has repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Last month, he implicitly accused Moscow of waging a "cruel and senseless war of aggression".

In an interview earlier this month, the pontiff told Reuters that he hoped to be able to go to Moscow and Kyiv soon after his trip to Canada.

After the interview, the Kremlin said it had not had substantive contact with the Vatican regarding a potential visit, while Ukraine renewed its invitation to the pontiff.

The Pope was flying yesterday to Edmonton, capital of Alberta province, at the start of a trip to Canada in which he aims to apologise for the role of the Roman Catholic Church in residential schools where many indigenous children were abused.

He was to be met at Edmonton's international airport by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"This is a trip of penance. Let's say that is its spirit," the Pope told reporters in his traditional comments at the beginning of the flight.

The week-long visit will include at least five encounters with native people as he makes good on a promise to apologise on their home territory for the Church's role in the state-sanctioned schools, which sought to erase indigenous cultures.

It will also be a test of his health. He had to cancel a trip to Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan this month because of a knee problem that recently forced him to use a wheelchair and a cane.

Despite his knee injury, the 85-year-old Pope was in good spirits and greeted and joked with the members of the press.

Although there were initial doubts on whether he would move around through sections of the aircraft, he said "I think I can do it" and walked normally, supporting himself with a cane.

Pope Francis is the second pope to visit Canada, after John Paul II, who visited three times - in 1984, 1987 and 2002.

Some 44 per cent of Canada's population is Catholic.

REUTERS