Pope Leo XIV, Zelenskyy hold first phone call about Russia-Ukraine war, Vatican says

Vatican City, May 12, 2025 / 12:04 pm

Pope Leo XIV and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have spoken on the phone following the pontiff’s plea for lasting peace in the country, the Vatican said Monday.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, confirmed that the two leaders had spoken after the pope expressed concern for Ukraine during his Sunday address delivered from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.

“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” Pope Leo said on Sunday after singing the Regina Coeli prayer with approximately 100,000 people.

“May everything possible be done to reach an authentic, just, and lasting peace, as soon as possible,” the Holy Father continued. “Let all the prisoners be freed and the children return to their own families.”

On Monday morning, Zelenskyy shared a photo on X of him purportedly having a telephone call with the new head of the Catholic Church from his office.

“I spoke with Pope Leo XIV,” the Ukrainian president wrote on X. “It was our first conversation but already a very warm and truly substantive one.”

After expressing gratitude to the Holy Father “for his support for Ukraine and all our people,” Zelenskyy said he and the pope specifically discussed the plight of thousands of children deported by Russia.

“Ukraine counts on the Vatican’s assistance in bringing them home to their families,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Reiterating Ukraine’s commitment to work toward a “full and unconditional ceasefire” and the end of the war with Russia, the president said he also invited the Holy Father “to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine” during the phone call.

“Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people,” he said. “We agreed to stay in contact and plan [an] in-person meeting in the near future.”