The Pope expressed his willingness to host a new round of peace talks at the Vatican, following a phone conversation with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. This information was confirmed by the Italian government.
During the discussion, Meloni talked with the Pope about possible steps to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. Pope Leo XIV confirmed the Vatican’s readiness to serve as a venue for the negotiations.
This conversation took place after Meloni spoke with President Trump and other European leaders, who called for confirmation of the Holy See’s willingness to organize peace talks.
On May 16, the Pope proposed the Vatican as a location for peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, since the previous summit in Istanbul failed to bring together Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.
On May 19, after a conversation with Putin, Trump posted on his social media platform TruthSocial that the talks with the Russian leader were successful, and that Ukraine and Russia would soon begin discussions to end the war.
That same day, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the next negotiations could take place in Turkey, the Vatican, or Switzerland. He also emphasized that Ukraine does not plan to withdraw its troops from territories at Russia’s demand, and handed the Pope a list of 400 Ukrainian children who were abducted by Russia.
