“The mission of Mgr. Celestino Migliore was largely characterised by his pastoral commitment”, said the president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Poznan, Stanislaw Gadecki, as he thanked the outgoing Apostolic Nuncio for the years he spent in Poland. Last Saturday, Pope Francis had appointed Mgr. Migliore as his representative to the Russian Federation. “The Polish Church and all of us, bishops, are grateful to Mgr. Migliore for the style of his mission: fraternal, concrete, and clear at the same time”, said the Primate of Poland, Mgr. Wojciech Polak, expressing the hope that the new representative of the Holy See in Moscow might “support the dialogue between the Polish Church and the Russian Church, as well as dialogue between their two peoples, that they may continue on the path taken”. The prelate recalled the joint declaration signed by the Polish Church and the Moscow Patriarchate in 2012, which “raised hopes for a fruitful cooperation and rapprochement between the two Churches”. However – Mgr. Polak continued – such relations are now at a stalemate due to the situation in Ukraine”. Commenting on his past six years in Poland, Mgr. Migliore spoke of “an extremely happy and fruitful time” for “I had the opportunity to learn a lot from the Church in Poland, and a chance to rejoice at her successes and help her to tackle the problems”.