President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on May 18, following the pontiff’s inauguration Mass, according to Vatican News.
The visit marked Zelensky’s first in-person meeting with the new pope, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was elected head of the Catholic Church on May 8. During the Mass, Zelensky was accompanied by First Lady Olena Zelenska and Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak.
According to Sky News, the Ukrainian president was also scheduled to have a private meeting with the pope later that afternoon.
The inauguration event drew an estimated 250,000 pilgrims and 156 foreign delegations, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who had met Pope Francis shortly before his death.
A day before the event, Rubio said the Vatican could serve as a neutral venue for future peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow. Speaking in Rome before his meeting with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Vatican’s envoy on Ukraine, Rubio noted that “both sides would be comfortable” holding talks there.
Pope’s Appeal for Peace
During his first public address on May 11, Pope Leo XIV said he carried the “suffering of the beloved people of Ukraine” in his heart and called for an “authentic and lasting peace.”
Zelensky had his first phone conversation with Pope Leo XIV on May 12, describing it as “warm” and “substantive.” During their in-person meeting on May 18, the pontiff received a list of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia.
Before becoming pope, Leo XIV was a vocal critic of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While serving as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, he described the 2022 invasion as “a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power.”
