Zelensky meets Pope Leo XIV amid peace talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has met Pope Leo XIV at his residence in Castel Gandolfo to debate the continued conflict with Russia.

The meeting was described by the Vatican as being cordial and was focused on attempts to search out a diplomatic solution to the conflict, prisoner exchanges, and the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia.

The Pope also expressed his willingness to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine in any potential negotiations.

The Vatican has been outspoken in its calls for peace because the start of the conflict.

The late Pope Francis denounced the Russian attack as an “offence against God and humanity” and referred to the conflict as a “war” fairly than the term favoured by the Russian government, “special military operation”.

However, Francis also said Ukraine must have the “courage of the white flag” and have greater willingness to barter a ceasefire. He also clarified that he didn’t mean a straightforward give up. In the early days of the conflict Francis also said that NATO had “perhaps someway provoked” the Russian motion.

By contrast, shortly after his election, Pope Leo called the war “a fratricidal assault on human dignity”, that was the results of “Russia’s imperial ambitions”. He urged Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to “repent of complicity in bloodshed”.

Meanwhile, President Zelensky has also been criticised for “a full-scale crime against humanity” in his treatment of members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, particularly Metropolitan Arseny, who has been imprisoned and allegedly tortured.

Arseny was accused of showing the position of army checkpoints to the enemy during a sermon. However, his lawyers say that the checkpoints weren’t even manned on the time of the sermon, nor did any come under attack following the sermon. Action was only taken against Arseny when he, months after delivering the sermon, criticised persecution of the UOC by the Ukrainian government.