Pope Leo XIV was to hold his first private audience Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the U.S. pontiff’s inauguration mass, the Vatican said.
“The martyred Ukraine is waiting for negotiations for a just and lasting peace to finally happen,” the pontiff said ahead of the meeting.
Zelenskyy was among politicians, royals and faith leaders from around the world who attended the mass inaugurating the start of Leo’s papacy.
In St. Peter’s Square, the Ukrainian leader shook hands of U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
In his Regina Coeli prayer at the end of the mass, Leo also noted that “in Gaza, children, families and elderly survivors are reduced to hunger.”
And he recalled how “in Myanmar, new hostilities have destroyed innocent young lives.”
