After Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to show up for peace talks in Turkey that he had proposed, the Vatican called the outcome “tragic” and said that Pope Leo XIV wants the Vatican to be available for both sides to meet for direct talks in an attempt to end a war that has raged for more than three years, according to Politico.
“All this is tragic because we had hoped that it would be a slow process, perhaps, but with a peaceful solution to the conflict, but instead we are back to square one,” top Vatican diplomat Cardinal Pietro Parolin told reporters at a Vatican event in Rome on Friday.
“The Pope intends to make the Vatican, the Holy See, available for a direct meeting between the two sides,” he added.
Following his election last week, Pope Leo XIV has made it clear that working for peace in Ukraine will be one of his top priorities. On Sunday, he spoke by telephone with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and in his first Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square, he remembered the “suffering of the beloved Ukrainian people”.
In a session with representatives of the Eastern Church on Wednesday, Leo invited the two leaders “with all my heart” for talks.
“The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies face to face… Let us meet, let us talk, let us negotiate,” the pontiff said.
On Thursday, in his first post on X as Pope, Leo called for peace, writing: “I want the greeting of peace to resound in your hearts, in your families and among all people, wherever they are, in all nations and throughout the world.”
His predecessor Pope Francis sent an envoy to Ukraine and Russia and worked to promote the reunion of Ukrainian children with their families and the exchange of prisoners of war. Pope Francis defended Ukraine, even though he blamed NATO expansion earlier in the conflict.
Parolin also said the Vatican was working on a possible meeting with US Vice President JD Vance. Before Leo was elected Pope, a social media account with the Pope’s name repeatedly criticised the Trump administration – and Vance in particular – for its strict US immigration policy.
In his first address to world diplomats on Friday, the Pope said that migrants should be respected, potentially setting him on a course against the administration of US President Donald Trump.
“Each one of us can be healthy or sick, employed or unemployed, living in our homeland or in a foreign country, but respect must always remain the same,” he said. “No one is exempt from striving to show respect for everyone, especially the most vulnerable and fragile ones, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike.”
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