VATICAN CITY (RNS) – Earlier than changing into Pope Leo XIV Cardinal Robert Prevost denounced Russia’s “imperialist invasion” of Ukraine, in a 2022 interview, saying Russia was in search of to beat a territory for its personal benefit.
“It’s already been confirmed that crimes towards humanity are being dedicated in Ukraine,” he instructed the weekly Semanario Expresion in 2022 when he was nonetheless bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. “I ask God for peace, however I imagine that we should be clearer, together with some politicians in our international locations who don’t need to acknowledge the horrors of the struggle and wickedness that Russia is realizing in all its actions in Ukraine.”
If Leo maintains this place on Russia’s actions in Ukraine, his papacy may signify a shift in how the Vatican’s diplomatic department addresses the continued battle.
Whereas recognizing that the newly elected pope used “sturdy phrases” up to now concerning the battle in Ukraine, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who oversees the Vatican’s overseas relations as secretary of state, instructed RNS he doesn’t assume that may hinder the Vatican’s mediation efforts.
“The Russian aspect additionally appreciates the place of the Holy See, a place that tries to convey the events collectively as an alternative of making additional divisions,” he stated.
Parolin, who was thought-about a front-runner within the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV, was a high aide in Pope Francis’ efforts to advertise peace between Russia and Ukraine. The Argentine pope upheld a traditionally frequent Vatican strategy of diplomacy in not condemning political leaders or international locations, with a purpose to preserve a impartial place which may favor peace negotiations.
Francis was hesitant in condemning Russia publicly and when the struggle began in 2022, he broke protocol by driving to the Russian Embassy to the Holy See. Talking to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in Might 2022, Francis stated “NATO barking at Russia’s doorways” might need provoked the invasion of Ukraine, and in an interview with Swiss broadcaster RSI in 2024, because the struggle continued to ravage the nation, he inspired Ukrainian leaders to have “the braveness of the white flag.”
Regardless of repeated invites, Pope Francis by no means visited Ukraine throughout the battle, however he despatched his closest collaborators to supply assist and assist. In Might 2023, he tapped the top of the Italian bishops and an skilled peace mediator, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, to move the Vatican’s peace efforts by assembly world leaders in Ukraine, China, Russia and the US.
Pope Francis exhibits a flag that was dropped at him from Bucha, Ukraine, throughout his weekly common viewers within the Paul VI Corridor, on the Vatican, April 6, 2022. (AP Picture/Alessandra Tarantino)
“Francis’ positions sadly led to many misunderstandings. The notion of impartiality between Russia and Ukraine was thought-about unjust,” stated Massimo Franco, an Italian journalist and creator of the “Parallel Empires: The Vatican and the US — Two centuries of alliance and battle.”
“At the moment the Holy See can have a extra decisive function as a result of Putin’s resistance to in search of an actual peace is more and more clear and Leo XIV used clearer phrases towards Russia,” Franco added.
In accordance with Franco, the brand new pope’s sturdy tackle Russia could be “a instrument to extend stress on Moscow.”
Instantly after his election on Might 11, the Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV made an attraction for “a disarming and disarmed peace” and known as for the discharge of prisoners and the return of deported kids, a recurring theme of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy known as Pope Leo XIV on Monday (Might 12), and through what he described on X as a “heat and really substantial” dialog, invited the brand new pope to go to Kyiv. He additionally wrote that Ukraine “deeply appreciates the Holy See’s coherent place” on the battle, voicing his hope that the Vatican will proceed its assist for “restoring justice and obtain an enduring peace.”
I spoke with Pope Leo XIV. It was our first dialog, however already a really heat and really substantive one.
I thanked His Holiness for his assist of Ukraine and all our individuals. We deeply worth his phrases about the necessity to obtain a simply and lasting peace for our nation and the… pic.twitter.com/4ocbA7jnMK
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) Might 12, 2025
President Vladimir Putin additionally issued a press release after Pope Leo XIV’s election, voicing hope that relations between the most important nation on the earth and the small Catholic nation proceed “based mostly within the Christian values that unite us.”
Parolin stated that “the pope will renew, as he has already completed for the reason that starting of his preach, the attraction for the tip of the struggle,” chatting with journalists earlier than coming into a convention titled “Towards a theology of hope for and from Ukraine,” organized by the Pontifical Gregorian College and the College of Notre Dame in Rome on Wednesday (Might 14).
“We all the time stay out there to supply an area, speaking about mediation is extreme, however not less than we will facilitate the encounter,” he added.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin arrives in St. Peter’s Basilica to attend a Mass of mourning for late Pope Francis, on the Vatican, Saturday, Might 3, 2025. (AP Picture/Alessandra Tarantino)
St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican turned a hopeful floor for peace when U.S. President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy sat head to head throughout Pope Francis’ funeral on April 26. However attaining peace in Ukraine has continued to be elusive, particularly since each Putin and Trump determined to not attend mediations in Istanbul this Friday.
The pope’s inauguration ceremony, to be held Sunday in St. Peter’s Sq. on the Vatican, will supply one other alternative for Zelenskyy to satisfy U.S. leaders, this time Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“I don’t see Leo XIV embracing Trump’s overseas coverage, however a need to know these features that may coincide with the Holy See’s peace technique,” Franco stated. Whereas it’s clear that Trump and the pope don’t see eye to eye on some points, particularly migration, “neither one desires a head-on conflict, except it’s inevitable,” Franco added.
Historically, the Holy See has relied on its relations with native church buildings in Ukraine and Russia to settle battle. Pope Francis held a historic assembly with the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill, in Havana in 2016 and continued that relationship all through his preach. Kirill has been an ally of Putin, providing non secular justifications for the struggle in Ukraine. In a message to Pope Leo XIV, Kirill known as for a continued effort to advertise relations between the 2 church buildings.
Leo XIV met with the Primate of the Greek Catholic Church in Kyiv, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, to roaring applause from the gang, throughout a gathering on the Vatican for the Jubilee of Japanese Church buildings on Wednesday.
“I’ll make each effort in order that this peace could prevail. The Holy See is all the time prepared to assist convey enemies collectively, head to head, to speak to 1 one other, in order that peoples all over the place could as soon as extra discover hope and get well the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace. The peoples of our world need peace, and to their leaders I attraction with all my coronary heart: Allow us to meet, allow us to discuss, allow us to negotiate! Warfare isn’t inevitable,” Leo stated on the ecumenical occasion.
Warfare isn’t inevitable. Weapons can and should fall silent, for they by no means clear up issues however solely intensify them. Those that sow peace will endure all through historical past, not those that reap victims. Others aren’t enemies to hate however human beings with whom to talk.
— Pope Leo XIV (@Pontifex) Might 14, 2025
Shevchuk had praised the brand new pope as “an announcer of peace,” in a message after his election.
On Thursday, Leo met with Shevchuk on the Vatican in one among his first non-public audiences as pope. Though the Vatican didn’t launch a press release after the assembly, Shevchuk stated he offered the pope with an inventory of prisoners held by Russia, based on a report from the Related Press.
Through the convention on the Gregorian College in Rome on Wednesday, Parolin underlined the necessity for Christians to “assist individuals to not give in to hate, vengeance and desperation” as a result of “reconciliation is feasible solely the place there may be reality and forgiveness.”
The Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew — who acknowledged the Independence of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine in 2019, severing ties with the Orthodox Church in Moscow — praised Leo XIV’s election as the beginning of “a brand new period.” He stated he’ll attend the pope’s inauguration ceremony and “suggest creating dialogue between East and West.”
With main superpowers at play and spiritual tensions nonetheless unresolved, Pope Leo XIV faces a tough highway forward in advocating for peace in Ukraine and past. Whereas he inherits a fancy legacy and the well-oiled diplomacy of the Holy See, it is going to be his model and management that may decide what – if any – function the Vatican will play within the negotiations.
