Ukraine's Zelenskiy travels to Rome to meet Pope Francis, Italian
officials
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[May 13, 2023]
By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy began a visit to
Rome on Saturday for talks with government officials and Pope Francis,
who in late April said that the Vatican is involved in a peace mission
to end the war with Russia.
Zelenskiy, on his first trip to Italy since Russia invaded in February
last year, held talks with President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale
Palace and was due to have a working lunch with Prime Minister Giorgia
Meloni before heading to the Vatican.
On Twitter, Zelenskiy called his visit to Italy and the Vatican "An
important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine!"
As he headed to the presidential palace, Zeleniskiy's motorcade passed
by small groups holding Ukrainian flags, with one person holding up a
sign condemning Russia.
Zelenskiy, whose plane was escorted over Italian airspace by fighter
jets, was also expected to be the guest of a popular Italian television
talk show before heading to Germany.
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Meloni visited Zelenskiy in Kyiv in February to assure him of Italy's
continued support for Ukraine, despite some of her allies, most notably
former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, having longstanding, close ties
with Moscow.
The meeting with the pope is expected to be the most significant part of
Zelenskiy's time in Italy. He previously met the pope at the Vatican in
2020 and the two have had several phone conversations since the war
began.
At the start of the war, the pope tried to take a balanced approach in
hopes of being a mediator but later began forcefully condemning Russia
actions, comparing them to some of the worst crimes against Ukraine
during the Soviet era.
Returning from a trip to Hungary on April 30, Francis made an intriguing
but puzzling comment about the Vatican being involved in a mission to
try to end the war. "There is a mission in course now but it is not yet
public. When it is public, I will reveal it," he told reporters during
his flight home.
Both Moscow and Kyiv publicly expressed surprise at his comments. The
Vatican has insisted that something is in the works but has offered no
details.
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![](../images/051323PIX/news_s4.jpg)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, Italy, May
13, 2023. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
Francis met this week with Russia's outgoing ambassador to the
Vatican, Alexander Avdeyev, and the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero
reported that the Vatican may have given the envoy a letter for
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
PEACE EFFORTS
Francis has pleaded for peace practically on a weekly basis, and has
repeatedly expressed a wish to act as a broker between Kyiv and
Moscow. His offer has so far failed to produce any breakthrough.
The pope has a standing invitation from Zelenskiy to visit Kyiv but
the pope has said previously that he also wants to visit Moscow as
part of the same peace mission.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met the pope at the Vatican
on April 27 and said he had discussed a "peace formula" put forward
by Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy and his team have been vigorously promoting Kyiv's
10-point peace plan and urging world leaders to hold a Global Peace
Summit based on the proposals.
It calls for restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity, the
withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities, and the
restoration of Ukraine’s state borders. Zelenskiy has repeatedly
said the plan is not open to negotiations.
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The pope has said the Vatican is willing to do "all that is humanly
possible" to help the repatriation of Ukrainian children. Kyiv
estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia or
Russian-occupied Crimea since February 2022, in what it condemns as
illegal deportations.
(Reporting by Philip PullellaAdditional reporting by Olena Harmash,
Max Hunder, Gavin Jones and Giselda VagnoniEditing by Grant McCool
and Frances Kerry)
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