Pope Francis on Friday visited the Russian Embassy in Rome in a gesture that broke diplomatic protocol, to convey his concerns over the conflict in Ukraine. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope spent more than 30 minutes at the embassy. Russian Ambassador Alexander Avdeev told a state-run media outlet that the pope had “wanted to personally ask about the situation in Donbas and Ukraine.” Bruni did not specify what Francis said to the Kremlin official but said, “He went to express his concern over the war.” Bruni declined comment to a number of media outlets including when asked whether the pope had visited or would visit Ukraine’s embassy.Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesdsay. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)© Provided by Yahoo! News Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesdsay. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)Under diplomatic protocol, the Vatican foreign minister would have summoned the ambassador to the Vatican. However, this time the pope traveled to the embassy despite having “acute knee pain,” which had forced him to cancel two other engagements next week.

Francis has previously called for an end to the conflict and urged Christians to take next Wednesday as a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Ukraine. On Wednesday he called for political leaders to examine their conscience before God and to refrain from actions that harm civilians and “discredit international law.” However he refrained from naming Russia or its president, Vladimir Putin.

On Thursday, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, reiterated the pope’s previous appeals for peace in Ukraine, adding that Francis’s appeals had “acquired a dramatic urgency after the start of Russian military operations on Ukrainian territory.”