Pope Leo meets Zelenskiy, offers to host Ukraine peace talks

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo told visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday that the Vatican was willing to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

The pope, meeting the Ukrainian leader for the second time in his two-month-old papacy, also discussed "the urgent need for a just and lasting peace", the Vatican said in a statement.

Zelenskiy and Leo held talks in Castel Gandolfo, a small Italian hill town not far from Rome, where the pope is taking a two-week vacation.

Zelenskiy said on X that holding talks with Russia in the Vatican would be "entirely possible, with the goal of stopping Russian aggression and achieving a stable, lasting, and genuine peace". But he said Moscow had rejected such proposals, "as it has turned down all other peace initiatives".

Russian officials have told Reuters in the past that they did not see the Vatican as a serious venue for talks because it is surrounded by NATO member Italy which has supported Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader is in Italy to attend a conference on July 10-11 dedicated to Ukraine's recovery and long-term reconstruction following Russia's invasion.

The Vatican did not say how long the meeting between Leo and Zelenskiy lasted. It released video showing Leo, the first U.S. pontiff, asking Zelenskiy "How are things going?" in English as they sat in a large room together.

Leo, who has made appealing for peace in world conflicts a major theme of his young papacy, previously met Zelenskiy at the Vatican on May 18.

The pope also held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 4, during which the Vatican said Leo had asked Putin to take concrete steps to end Russia's three-year war on Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump suggested in May that Leo had offered to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks, though the pope did not discuss it publicly at the time.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee, Editing by Giulia Segreti, Alvise Armellini and Peter Graff)