2023-05-13 17:30:00
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican on May 13. Vatican News/AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday. It is the first face-to-face meeting between Zelensky and the pope since the war began last year.
Pope Francis stressed the urgent need for “human gestures” towards the most fragile people and the innocent victims of the Ukraine conflict, according to a statement from the Vatican Press Office.
The statement said Zelensky and Pope Francis discussed the humanitarian and political situation in Ukraine caused by the ongoing war and the pope assured his “constant prayer.”
“The pope has assured his constant prayer, witnessed by his numerous public appeals and his continuous invocation to the Lord for peace, since February of last year,” the Vatican Press Office said. “Both agreed on the need to continue with humanitarian efforts to support the population.”
Zelensky thanked Pope Francis for his “personal attention” to the tragedy affecting “millions of Ukrainians.” “I stressed that there are tens of thousands of deported children, we must do everything we can to bring them home,” Zelensky said in a statement posted on his social media pages.
“In addition, I asked him to condemn Russian crimes in Ukraine. There can be no equality between victim and aggressor”.
Zelensky added that he also spoke to the pope about the Ukraine peace plan, saying it is “the only effective algorithm to achieve a just peace.”
Pope Francis has been outspoken in his support for ending the war in Ukraine.
Last year, the pontiff reportedly said during a conversation with directors of religious publications that he is not “in favor” of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but “simply against reducing complexity to the distinction between good and evil, without thinking about the roots and interests, which are very complex”.
“While we see the ferocity, the cruelty of the Russian troops, we must not forget the problems to try to solve them,” he said at the time.
The pope has also warned the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, not to become “Putin’s altar boy”.
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