Many leaders went to Rome this Sunday, May 18 to attend the first Mass of the new Pope Leo XIV. On this occasion, several of them found themselves to talk about peace in Ukraine and the Pope himself supported “a fair and lasting peace” by “Martyhed Ukraine.”
“Ukraine finally expects negotiations for just and lasting peace,” said Léon XIV in public, after the dough marked the beginning of his pontificate. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said “grateful for the special words” of the Sovereign Pontiff, in a message posted on Telegram.
Léon XIV also met with Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska for the first time in private audience this Sunday. His predecessor, Pope Francis, had argued tirelessly for peace in Ukraine, without obtaining concrete results.
A meeting between JD Vance and Volodymyr Zelensky
The United States Vice President JD Vance also received Volodymyr Zelensky this Sunday afternoon, after exchanging a handshake during the inaugural Mass of Léon XIV in the morning.
The two men talked about a “high fire”, the possibility of new sanctions against Moscow, but especially the “preparations” before Monday’s call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, according to a senior Ukrainian official.
This meeting, the first since then The altercation between the two men White HouseIt took place at the American ambassador residence in Italy and lasted “approximately half an hour,” according to kyiv, who described the exchange of “normal.”
At the end of April, during Pope Francis’s funeral, Volodymyr Zelensky had already met Donald Trump, for about fifteen minutes, to talk about the situation in Ukraine.
A “crucial” week for peace
Still apart from the Mass given by Léon XIV, this Sunday, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met with the US vice president JD Vance and the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, in Rome.
During this meeting, he said that next week would be “crucial” for peace negotiations in Ukraine. “The important thing now is that we are pressure, that things continue, and I think that next week it will be crucial for this plan,” he said.
Are all these meetings organized following Pope’s Mass to make it a first -class actor in peace negotiations? Questioned by Associated Press about the possibility that the Vatican plays a mediator role, the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, present in the US delegation, clearly replied: “I would not talk about a mediator, but it is certainly a place where the two parties would feel comfortable.”
“Therefore, we will discuss all this and obviously we are always grateful to the Vatican for his desire to play this constructive and positive role,” said Rubio, who also met on Saturday in the Secretary of State and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Vatican.
Vladimir Putin, who was not present in Rome, also spoke this Sunday during a television interview. The Russian president said he had the ambition to “eliminate” the “causes” of the conflict in Ukraine and “guarantee the security” of Russia.
Source: BFM TV
