Pope Leo XIV met Thursday at the Vatican with the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, in one of his first audiences as pontiff that reaffirmed his appeal for a peaceful, negotiated end to Russia’s war.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk said he invited Leo to visit Ukraine and presented the pope with a list of prisoners held by Russia. The Vatican under Pope Francis had worked for prisoner exchanges, as well as for the return of Ukrainian children taken to live in Russian-occupied territories.
