%name% Pope Leo XIV Reaffirms Vatican’s Offer to Host Peace Talks After Meeting with Zelensky

(The Post News)- In a quiet hilltop villa just outside Rome, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday, where they spoke about the ongoing war in Ukraine and the desperate need to end the fighting. The Vatican confirmed that the Pope again offered to host peace talks between Ukraine and Russia – an offer Moscow has repeatedly turned down.

The conversation, held at the Pope’s summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, focused on the war that’s raged since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. According to a statement from the Vatican, both leaders “discussed the ongoing conflict and the urgent need for a just and lasting peace.”
The Holy Father expressed deep sorrow for lives lost and said his prayers remain with Ukrainians. He also stressed the need for dialogue to end the war. “The importance of dialogue as the preferred means of ending hostilities was reaffirmed,” the Vatican noted.

Zelensky, who’s in Rome for the Ukraine Recovery Conference, used the meeting to thank the Pope for efforts to help reunite children taken by Russia. “I asked him to continue helping us bring our children home,” Zelensky told reporters outside the villa. Many of these children were forcibly moved to Russia after the invasion – a move widely condemned by the international community.

Pope Leo’s involvement in peace efforts isn’t new. Last year, he appointed Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi as a special envoy to support the return of abducted Ukrainian children and to explore ways to bring both sides to the negotiating table.

Despite this, the Kremlin has shown little interest in talks hosted by the Vatican. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously dismissed the offer, suggesting it wouldn’t be appropriate for two Orthodox Christian nations to hold negotiations in a Catholic state.

Still, the Pope isn’t giving up. The Vatican said he “reiterated the willingness to welcome representatives of Russia and Ukraine to the Vatican for negotiations.”
While the United States has signalled openness to the Vatican as a neutral location for talks, the Russian government hasn’t agreed to participate.

The Pope continues to emphasize humanitarian concerns, especially the suffering of civilians trapped in conflict zones and families separated by warfare. While Wednesday’s meeting did not yield any major developments, it was another demonstration of the Vatican’s efforts to leverage its international influence to encourage peace negotiations. It remains unclear whether Moscow will ultimately respond positively, but the Vatican persists in extending an invitation for dialogue.