Kinshasa, May 18th, 2025 (CPA).- Pope Leo XIV has received on Sunday at the Vatican for the first time in private audience the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, accompanied by his wife Olena Zelenska, international media have reported. ‘Thank you for your patience in waiting, I had to greet all the delegations who had attended the inaugural mass of the pontificate,’ has declared the Pope. The Ukrainian president has said he is « grateful for the special words » of the pontiff. ‘Every country merits to live in peace and security. The prayers for a just peace and a dignified life for all must be heard’, he has estimated. Leo XIV’s predecessor, Pope Francis, had pleaded tirelessly for peace in Ukraine, without achieving any concrete results.
Before the mass, Mr Zelensky has shook hands with US Vice-President JD Vance, whom he had not seen since their altercation at the White House with Donald Trump at the end of February.