“Going back to the Pope’s early expression that we are experiencing the ‘Third World War piecemeal,’ everybody thought he was talking nonsense, but it’s all proven to be correct,” said Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States. “We are getting to a very dangerous situation worldwide, and, as we know, it wouldn’t take much to make things even worse.”

“It’s very difficult for the Ukrainians to envisage real negotiations at this time because of the depth of the suffering and the trauma of the people,” added the prelate, who recently visited Ukraine. “The Pope’s main priority at this moment is to make the visit to Ukraine, meet with the Ukrainian authorities, meet with the Ukrainian people and with the Ukrainian Catholic Church.”