Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Vatican on Oct. 11 for a meeting with Pope Francis, marking another step in his European tour.
Zelensky's second private audience at the Vatican comes amid an uneasy atmosphere between the Holy See and Kyiv caused by some of the pope's past controversial remarks about Russia's war in Ukraine.
During a meeting that lasted 35 minutes, the pope presented Ukraine's head of state with a bronze bas-relief with a flower and an inscription, "peace is a fragile flower," the ANSA news agency wrote.
In turn, Zelensky reportedly gave Pope Francis an oil painting named "The Bucha Massacre – the Story of Marichka." Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, was occupied by Russian troops shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 and saw some of Russia's worst atrocities against civilians during the war.
The details of talks between Zelensky and the pope have not yet been made public.
While having repeatedly denounced Russia's full-scale invasion and urging peace, Pope Francis's call for Ukraine to "not be ashamed to negotiate" with Russia in March was met with apprehension in Kyiv and among its partners. The comments were seen as calls for surrender to Russian aggression.
The Vatican's relationship with Ukraine also came into the spotlight recently with the nomination of Mykola Bychok, a Ternopil-born bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Australia, to the College of Cardinals.
While the nomination of Ukraine's only cardinal was seen as a positive signal toward Kyiv by some, the decision to choose a lesser-known bishop over Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, came as a surprise.
Zelensky's visit to the Vatican follows his trips to the U.K., France, and Italy, where he met leaders of the respective countries to present them with Ukraine's five-step victory plan. The president is also expected to travel to Germany later on Oct. 11 to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Ukraine's head of state is touring the European countries to ramp up military support and mobilize backing behind the victory plan, which Kyiv describes as a path toward a just and lasting peace.
The situation grows ever more dire for the besieged country as Russian forces keep pressing on in the east, and the population faces energy deficits in the coming winter. In the meantime, the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House prompts fears of weakened U.S. support.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
