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Shevchuk brings ‘Ukraine’s prayers’ and list of prisoners to Pope Leo
Confirmed
In Short: Pope Leo XIV spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, urging cooperation between Ukraine and Russia to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate civilians from Oleshky.
Pope Leo XIV spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, urging cooperation between Ukraine and Russia to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate civilians from Oleshky, a city in the Kherson region under Russian military occupation since 2022.
During the call, Zelenskyy briefed the pope on Russian strikes against Ukrainian cities and the humanitarian catastrophe in Oleshky, where civilians face desperate shortages of food, water, and medicine.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said the telephone conversation with Putin resulted from the pope’s desire for dialogue.
Zelenskyy also presented the pope with a detailed briefing on reported disruptions to Ukraine’s defense communications, which have strained relations with Washington.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church handed the pope a list of prisoners of war and civilians held by Russia during his visit to the Vatican.
The pope thanked the bishops, priests, monastics, and faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for their distinctive witness of faith during the war.
Shevchuk expressed particular appreciation for the Holy See’s “humanitarian diplomacy,” aimed at easing the suffering of civilians and securing the release of prisoners of war and civilians held by Russia.
The pope appealed for a truce in Oleshky, where civilians face a desperate shortage of food, water, and medicine.
According to a statement from the Holy See Press Office, the conversation centered on the grave situation in Oleshky and the request for a humanitarian ceasefire.
The pope is expected to deliver his traditional Angelus prayer service on Sunday either from the hospital or the Vatican.
Shevchuk stressed that this was the first time a representative of an international institution had been able to visit Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia.
What this adds
The pope’s call with Zelenskyy came less than a week after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while the pontiff was recovering from lung surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
Shevchuk expressed particular gratitude for the calls and for the attention given to the humanitarian catastrophe in Oleshky.
Background
Pope Leo XIV spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, urging cooperation between Ukraine and Russia to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate civilians from Oleshky, a city in the Kherson region under Russian military occupation since 2022.
Pope Leo XIV spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday, urging cooperation between Ukraine and Russia to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate civilians from Oleshky, a city in the Kherson region facing a severe humanitarian crisis.
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What's confirmed
- Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said the telephone conversation with Putin resulted from the pope’s desire for dialogue.
- Despite the so-called truce, Russia has continued to conduct attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, which left 600,000 people without electricity, Major Archbishop Shevchuk wrote.
- Pope Leo’s phone call with Zelenskyy came less than a week after an Oct. 16 call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while the pontiff was recovering from lung surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
- According to his office, Zelenskyy gave the pope a detailed briefing on Russian strikes against Ukrainian cities, and the two “discussed the humanitarian catastrophe” in Oleshky.
- Zelenskyy also briefed Pope Leo on reported disruptions to Ukraine’s defense communications, which have strained relations with Washington.
- According to Major Archbishop Shevchuk, Pope Leo XIV thanked the bishops, priests, monastics and faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for their distinctive witness of faith during the war.
- Major Archbishop Shevchuk expressed particular gratitude for the calls—the conversation with President Putin took place while the Pope was in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital—and for the attention given to the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Oleshky.
- “Finally, the Holy Father reaffirmed the commitment of the Holy See to promoting dialogue and peace,” the statement said.
What's still developing
- Leo XIV agreed, and Zuppi conveyed the pope’s willingness to intervene on the humanitarian issue during his Sept.
- Russian sources, however, have noted that Putin was particularly interested in holding a second conversation with the pope following their first exchange in June 2025.
- The telephone conversation with the Ukrainian president marks another step in a diplomatic effort involving Kyiv, Moscow, and the Holy See that began with visits by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the pope’s special envoy, first to Kyiv and then to Moscow.
- “And even as we gratefully acknowledge mediation efforts aimed at ending the war, it is essential to distinguish between restraining an unjust aggressor and coercing the victim,” Major Archbishop Shevchuk wrote.
- Launched under Pope Francis and renewed by Pope Leo XIV, that mission included visits to Kyiv and Moscow last summer by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations.
- “It is a sign that no one is forgotten. The Lord God remembers everyone. And the Mother Church is working to ensure that all our prisoners of war and illegally detained hostages are released as soon as possible,” he said.
- Throughout the audience, Major Archbishop Shevchuk repeatedly thanked the Pope for his support for Ukraine, so often described by Pope Francis as “martyred”, and for his continuing appeals for an end to the war.
- “It was the Holy Father who took the initiative to plead the cause of this besieged city,” Parolin told reporters on Friday.
- “These are horrific photos, but behind them are shattered lives and the truth about this war,” he said, sharing photographs from the playground where the attack occurred, killing among others an 11-year-old girl.