The Vatican said in a statement that the pope urged Russia to make "a gesture that would favor peace" and that dialogue was key to a solution to the conflict. According to press reports, the discussion centered on humanitarian work, including the transfer of prisoners.

Vatican's Role in Seeking Peace Stressed
In the phone conversation, which was initiated by Zelenskyy, the tradition of peace mediation in Ukraine by the Vatican peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna, led both to talk about how it could continue. Zuppi recently mobilized to find solutions to ease the human suffering brought by the war.

The Kremlin, in a separate statement, confirmed that the two leaders had spoken by phone and thanked the pope for his willingness to mediate the dispute. But it also accused Ukraine of escalating tensions.

Peace Talks Plan Meets Resistance
US President Donald Trump had previously stated that Pope Leo had offered to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the Vatican. Yet despite the offer, Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and other senior officials are said to have flatly rejected it, saying the Vatican is not a neutral or suitable place for dialogue between two countries that are days away from a summit of their respective Orthodox branches of Christianity.

As the war in Ukraine grinds on into a long, destructive phase, Pope Leo's involvement is an example of the renewed attempt by the Vatican to serve as a moral and diplomatic go-between in the global arena of resolving conflict.