His All Holiness traveled to Poland at the invitation of the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, who officially invited the Ecumenical Patriarch to visit and offer words of support, consolation and hope to the millions of refugees who fled Ukraine following the ongoing invasion by Russia.
President Duda expressed his deep gratitude to His All Holiness for accepting his personal invitation, adding that “today His All Holiness, as a tireless pilgrim, came to bless the refugees from Ukraine.” The President also acknowledged and thanked the Ecumenical Patriarch for his clear and constant support for the victims of this horrible war.
His All Holiness also met with ecumenical leaders, led by the President of the Polish Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops, His Excellency Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki, reiterating his condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “unjust and unjustifiable”.
Furthermore, His All Holiness was warmly received by His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland, who hosted the Patriarchal delegation for a prayer service in St. Sophia Cathedral where the Ecumenical Patriarch had laid the foundation stone. in 2015. There, His All-Holiness denounced the massacre of Ukrainian Orthodox by Russian Orthodox as “absolutely unacceptable”.
During his stay in Warsaw, the Ecumenical Patriarch was able to visit several shelters for migrants, where he had the opportunity to personally meet Ukrainian refugees in order to hear their painful stories and convey his paternal support, as well as distribute icons and gifts to the many children who left behind their fathers, homes and schools in Ukraine.
Finally, His All Holiness held a number of press conferences on the purpose of his visit, the horror of the current war and the plight of refugees from Ukraine.
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