Pope Francis met with Volodymyr Zelensky

This was reported by Vatican News.

The President of Ukraine presented His Holiness with the painting “Bucha Massacre: Marichka's Story” by Irpin artists Volodymyr Koziuk and Vladyslav Zadvorsky, depicting a girl who “lost everything: her home, family, and childhood. Her father, mother, and grandmother were tortured and killed before her eyes... Her hometown, Bucha, witnessed inhuman atrocities that scarred her soul forever,” reads the description of the painting.

Pope Francis presented a bronze casting with an allegory: “Peace is a delicate flower,” a collection of documents from the pontificate, including this year's message for the Day of Peace, and the book ”Persecuted for the Truth. Ukrainian Greek Catholics Behind the Iron Curtain”, published by the Vatican Book Publishing House.

Afterwards, the President of Ukraine met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, who was accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.

The press service of the Holy See reported on the meeting as follows:

“The talks at the Secretariat of State focused on the state of war and the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, as well as ways that could put an end to it and lead to a just and sustainable peace in the country. In addition, a number of issues related to religious life in the country were discussed.”

This was Volodymyr Zelensky's third visit to the Vatican after visits in 2020 and 2023, as well as his third meeting with Pope Francis after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The previous one took place in June of this year on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Borgo Ignazio in southern Italy.