The new pope breaks with Francis to support Kiev and the cessation of the company

Keep –Logs informed with free updates

Simply register —vos at War in Ukraine Myft Digest: Delivered directly to the inbox.

Pope Leo XIV has called Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and a removal of 30 -day fire with western support, in a change in the previous pontiff that had achieved a more neutral position on the Moscow war.

The President of Ukraine said on Monday that his first conversation with the new pope, elected last week, was “very warm and really substantive” and thanked him for their support.

“We deeply value his words about the need to achieve a just and lasting peace for our country and the release of prisoners,” he said.

The Vatican confirmed that the two men had spoken on the phone, but refused to provide more details.

Pope Leo said on Sunday: “I bring to my heart the suffering of the beloved Ukrainian people”, instant in “an authentic, just and lasting peace as soon as possible”.

“May all prisoners be released and children return to their families,” he added.

Their explicit support for Ukraine In his war over the years against the invasion of Russia, he was loved by the Ukrainians and, above all, the Catholics in the country.

Following the invasion of Russia in Ukraine in 2022, the missing Pope Francis avoided accusing Moscow of aggression directly, suggesting that NATO had provoked Russia and often treated war parties as suffering equally. Last year, the late Pope caused a cry when he suggested that Ukraine should have the courage to surrender -to get a quick end on the bloodshed.

“When you see you are defeated, things are not going well, you must have the courage to negotiate,” Francis told an interviewer for a Swiss television last year, suggesting that Kiev should “have the courage to fight the white flag.”

On the contrary, Leo in 2022, who was a bishop in Peru at that time, condemned the large -scale invasion of Moscow in Ukraine as “imperialist”, saying that “Russia wants to conquer a territory for reasons of power” and committed crimes against humanity in the conflict.

“We really believe that Pope Lion XIV will be the Pope of Peace for Ukraine, started by the war,” said the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviaslav Shevchuk.

The Ukrainians had criticized Francis for calling Ukrainians and Russians “brothers”, a term used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify his invasion. The late Pope Francis had also sent Cardinal Matteo Zupi, the archbishop of Bologna, in two humanitarian missions in Moscow to try to negotiate the return of abducted Ukrainian children.

The Vatican said that “a certain number” of children was returned due to the mediation effort of the Church. But it was not clear how many returned.

On Monday, Zelenskyy said that a key point of his discussion with Pope Leo focused on the nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children that his office said he had been taking Russia forced. A Financial Times investigation last year was found Ukrainian children who were abducted And he moved to Russia during the first months of the complete scale invasion of the Kremlin Kremlin, in one case, in a case, under a false Russian identity.

The International Criminal Court has issued detention guarantees for Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova on his roles in the abductions.

“Ukraine is attended by the Vatican to bring them home to their families,” Zelenskyy said. He added that Pope Leo had invited to visit Ukraine, saying “he would bring real hope to all believers and all our people.”

He also reiterated his desire to fulfill the cessation of fire of 30 days from Monday. But Russia has rejected the offer, with Putin suggesting that he should find -on Thursday in Zelenskyy in Istanbul for peace conversations. Zelenskyy said he was ready to meet Putin in Turkey, but Kremlin has not yet confirmed the assistance of the Russian leader.

The UE diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said in London on Monday that Putin was still “playing games” and warned that the blog was preparing more sanctions if Russia did not agree with the cessation of fire for a month.

Giuliana Ricozzi’s additional reports in Rome and David Sheppard in London