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Pope Leo XIV has called Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and a western-backed 30-day ceasefire, in a shift from the previous pontiff who had struck a more neutral stance on Moscow’s war.
Ukraine’s president said on Monday that his first conversation with the new pope, who was elected last week, was “very warm and truly substantive” and thanked him for his support.
“We deeply value his words about the need to achieve a just and lasting peace for our country and the release of prisoners,” he said.
The Vatican confirmed the two men had spoken on the phone but declined to provide any further details.
Pope Leo on Sunday said: “I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” urging for “an authentic, just and lasting peace as soon as possible”.
“May all the prisoners be freed and may the children return to their families,” he added.
His explicit support for Ukraine in its years-long war against Russia’s invasion was met with appreciation from Ukrainians and especially the country’s Catholics.
After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the late Pope Francis avoided directly accusing Moscow of aggression, suggesting that Nato had provoked Russia and often treating the warring parties as suffering equally. Last year the late pope caused an outcry when he suggested that Ukraine should have the courage to surrender to bring a swift end to the bloodshed.
“When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you need to have the courage to negotiate,” Francis told an interviewer for a Swiss television last year, suggesting that Kyiv should “have the courage to wave the white flag”.
By contrast Leo in 2022 — who was a bishop in Peru at the time — condemned Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as “imperialist”, saying that “Russia wants to conquer a territory for reasons of power” and that it committed crimes against humanity in the conflict.
“We really feel that Pope Leo XIV will be the pope of peace for the long-suffering, war-torn Ukraine,” said the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk.
Ukrainians had criticised Francis for calling Ukrainians and Russians “brothers” — a term used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify his invasion. The late Pope Francis had also sent cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, on two humanitarian missions to Moscow to try to negotiate the return of abducted Ukrainian children.
The Vatican said that “a certain number” of children were returned as a result of the church’s mediation effort. But it was unclear how many came back.
Zelenskyy on Monday said a key point of his discussion with Pope Leo focused on the nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children that his office said had been forcibly taken by Russia. A Financial Times investigation last year found Ukrainian children who were abducted and moved to Russia in the early months of the Kremlin’s 2022 full-scale invasion had been put up for adoption by authorities, in one case under a false Russian identity.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova over their roles in the abductions.
“Ukraine counts on the Vatican’s assistance in bringing them home to their families,” Zelenskyy said. He added that he had invited Pope Leo to visit Ukraine, saying it would “bring real hope to all believers and to all our people”.
He also reiterated his willingness to abide by the 30-day ceasefire as of Monday. But Russia has rejected the offer, with Putin instead suggesting that he should meet Zelenskyy in Istanbul on Thursday for peace talks. Zelenskyy has said he was willing to meet Putin in Turkey, but the Kremlin has yet to confirm the Russian leader’s attendance.
The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Monday said in London that Putin was still “playing games” and warned that the bloc was preparing further sanctions if Russia did not agree to the month-long ceasefire.
Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi in Rome and David Sheppard in London
