Vatican sends new humanitarian mission to Ukraine ahead of ‘very harsh winter’

The Vatican will step up its support for Ukraine ahead of the coming winter with a new humanitarian mission led by the prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín.

“A very harsh winter is expected, and as Christians, as the Church, we cannot remain indifferent or passive. My journey is a mission of solidarity and closeness, a witness of love,” the archbishop confirmed to EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

Archbishop Marín will travel to Ukraine from Oct. 27-30 on a visit “coordinated through the Apostolic Nunciature,” during which he will visit Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Fastiv.

The itinerary includes meetings with Latin-rite and Greek Catholic communities as part of the Holy See’s efforts to accompany a population that has been deeply affected by a war that will mark its fifth year in February.

“I want to understand firsthand the needs of the population and, above all, make present the concern and closeness of Pope Leo XIV. Ukraine is in our hearts, and through the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, in the name of the Holy Father, we seek to respond with concrete assistance,” he said.

The mission coincides with a collection drive organized among Vatican employees in collaboration with the Governorate of Vatican City State.

“The response has been magnificent. We have collected, above all, warm clothing, canned food, blankets, sheets, sleeping bags, and other garments,” Archbishop Marín explained.

The supplies will be transported to Ukraine by road through the international TIR transit system and then distributed through local Church structures. Rome’s Holy Wisdom (Santa Sofia) Parish, the reference point for the Ukrainian Catholic community in Rome, has once again served as the operational hub where aid from various locations has been gathered before being sent to Ukraine.

The initiative is part of the broad network of assistance promoted by the Dicastery for the Service of Charity since the beginning of the war. In recent years, the Holy See has organized convoys carrying medicines, financial assistance for vulnerable families, and various relief projects, channeled through the apostolic nunciature and the local Churches.

Once in Ukraine, the aid will be distributed by the Church’s charitable structures in Kyiv.

“This aid collection effort has made us face our personal responsibility and has enabled a concrete response to the suffering of the Ukrainian people. I thank the Governorate of Vatican City for its cooperation, the employees of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity for their commitment in collecting and sorting the materials, and all the donors for their generous response,” Marín said, also asking people not to cease praying that the Lord may grant the gift of peace.

Intense diplomatic activity by the Holy See

The visit of the prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity also comes at a time of intense diplomatic and humanitarian activity by the Holy See regarding the war in Ukraine.

From Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he was recovering after surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his right lung, the pope called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Oct. 16 to ask for “a ceasefire to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.”

According to the Vatican, the pontiff referred in particular to the “extremely grave situation” in Oleshky, a besieged city where approximately 2,000 civilians remain, surviving without access to drinking water or electricity.

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, had also traveled to the city on a humanitarian mission.

The following Monday, back at the Vatican, the pope spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and expressly asked him to cooperate with Moscow in order to achieve a humanitarian truce in the city.

The pontiff’s diplomatic efforts bore fruit. As announced by Melania Trump, wife of U.S. President Donald Trump, the ceasefire intended to facilitate the rescue of civilians trapped in Oleshky will begin on Oct. 27, according to Moscow.

Captured by Russian forces at the start of the war, the city has suffered for months from severe shortages of food and medical supplies. In order to leave the city, many residents have had to travel for miles along partially mined roads.

Against this backdrop, on Oct. 23 Pope Leo XIV received Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of Kyiv-Halych and leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, in a private audience.

During the meeting, according to Vatican News, the primate thanked the pontiff for the Holy See’s constant support for his country and requested the mobilization of the international Catholic community in view of what is expected to be an especially difficult winter for millions of people affected by the war.

In addition, during the meeting Shevchuk presented the pope with lists of Ukrainian prisoners of war so that the Holy See could pass them on to the Russian authorities in an effort to facilitate a prisoner exchange.

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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