The Vatican is participating in a peacekeeping mission to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, Pope Francis said on Sunday night, Reuters reported.

“The mission is currently underway, but it is not yet public. When it is made public, I will reveal it,” the Pope told reporters on his flight home after a three-day visit to Hungary.

“I believe that peace is always achieved by opening channels of communication. You can never achieve peace by shutting them down. … Such a thing is not easy,” said the Supreme Pontiff.

The Pope added that he spoke about the situation in Ukraine with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Metropolitan Hilarion, the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest.

Pope Francis: “We did not talk about Little Red Riding Hood at these meetings”

“At these meetings, we talked not only about Little Red Riding Hood. We talked about all these things. Everyone is interested in the path to peace,” he said.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Francis has pleaded for peace almost every week and has repeatedly expressed his desire to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.

So far, his proposal has not brought any progress.

86-year-old Pope Francis previously stated that he wants to visit Kyiv and Moscow on a peacekeeping mission.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, during a meeting with the Pope on Thursday in the Vatican, said that he discussed the “peace formula” proposed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.