Two days after arriving at the Italian city of Castel Gandolfo for a multi-week holiday, Pope Leo XIV received Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a July 9 audience to discuss the Ukraine-Russia war.
The two leaders “discussed the ongoing conflict and the urgent need for a just and lasting peace,” a Holy See Press Office statement announced.
“During the cordial conversation, the importance of dialogue as the preferred means of ending hostilities was reaffirmed,” the statement continued. “The Holy Father expressed his sorrow for the victims and renewed his prayers and closeness to the Ukrainian people, encouraging every effort aimed at the release of prisoners and the search for shared solutions.”
Pope Leo also restated the Vatican’s openness to hosting negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives for peace talks.
Zelenskyy posted about the meeting July 9 on X.
“The proposal to hold meetings at the level of leaders at the Vatican remains open and entirely possible, with the goal of stopping Russian aggression and achieving a stable, lasting, and genuine peace,” he wrote. “At present, only Moscow continues to reject this proposal, as it has turned down all other peace initiatives.”
According to a May 26 report from Reuters, senior Russian sources said that many Russian officials cannot fly to Rome because of Western restrictions.
The sources told Reuters, according to the report, that “Russia does not see the Vatican as a serious venue for peace talks with Ukraine because the Holy See is the seat of Catholicism and is surrounded by Italy, a NATO and EU member.”
Pope Leo has repeatedly advocated for peace in Ukraine, calling in his first Regina Caeli address as pope for prisoners and children to be released and returned to their families in Ukraine.
In his July 9 X post, Zelenskyy wrote, “I especially thanked the Pope for his support of Ukrainian children, particularly those returned from Russian captivity. Ukrainian children now have the opportunity for rehabilitation and rest in Italy, and such hospitality and sincerity are extremely important. Today, we also discussed the Vatican’s continued efforts to help return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.”
Zelenskyy said he also conveyed to the Pope that Ukrainian society holds a deep respect for Venerable Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who died in 1944 after ministering in Ukraine through the brutality of Stalinism and Nazism. According to papal biographer George Weigel, Venerable Sheptytsky saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish children in 1942 by hiding them in Greek Catholic institutions. In August 1942, Venerable Sheptytsky wrote to Pope Pius XII describing the Nazis’ mass murders, and several months later issued a pastoral letter “protesting the German reign of terror and excommunicating its perpetrators,” according to Weigel.
Zelenskyy wrote that Ukrainian society deeply respects Venerable Sheptytsky’s “actions, including the rescue of Jews during the Second World War and his defense of the Christian faith.”
“We hope that Metropolitan Sheptytsky’s contribution and merits will receive the recognition they deserve,” Zelenskyy wrote.
He concluded by stating that he invited Pope Leo to visit Ukraine, an invitation he extended in May as well.