Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a 40-minute meeting with Pope Francis today, after which he met for half an hour the Vatican Secretary of State for Relations with States, Mons. Paul Gallagher. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin was on a mission abroad and could not participate in the meetings.
While international media have speculated on the meeting as part of the Vatican peace effort, official statements after the two meetings emphasize the “humanitarian” aspect of the talks. The Vatican press office stated that the Pope and Zelenskyy have discussed issues “referring to the humanitarian and political situation in Ukraine, provoked by the current war … they both agreed on the need to continue humanitarian efforts in support of the population. The Pope in particular stressed the urgent necessity of ‘gestures of humanity’ towards more fragile persons, innocent victims of the conflict.”
In the meeting with Archbishop Gallagher, “they focused above all on the current war in Ukraine and on connected urgencies, in particular those of humanitarian nature, as well as on the need to continue efforts to achieve peace.”
