Pope Francis has visited the Russian embassy in Rome to express his personal concern over the invasion of Ukraine.
The gesture has no recent precedent as diplomatic protocol would usually see ambassadors summoned to the Vatican for talks with the head of the Catholic Church.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to launch a full-scale military assault in Ukraine on Thursday has been widely condemned internationally.
The Pope travelled out of the walled city-state by car as he made the short trip to the Russian embassy to the Holy See on Friday.
He was inside the building on Rome's Via della Conciliazione for around 30 minutes, the Vatican confirmed.
While Francis has previously called for dialogue to end the conflict, he has refrained from publicly calling out Russia by name.
A Vatican spokesperson said: "The Holy See press office confirms that the Pope went to the Russian embassy to the Holy See on Via della Conciliazione, clearly to express his concern about the war. He was there for just over a half-hour."
At the end of a general audience on Wednesday, the Pope refrained from naming Russia when he urged political leaders to examine their conscience before God and avoid actions that harm civilians and "discredit international law".
Francis has also called for Catholics to set aside Ash Wednesday, the start of the solemn Lenten season, to fast and pray for peace in Ukraine.
Yesterday Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin held out hope for diplomacy.
He said: "There is still time for goodwill, there is still room for negotiation, there is still room for the exercise of a wisdom that prevents the prevalence of partisan interests, protects the legitimate aspirations of each and saves the world from the madness and horrors of war."
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the largest eastern rite church in communion with Rome, welcomed Francis' intervention and said he hoped it would help dialogue prevail over force.
"The Ukrainian people whom he is courageously defending are crying to the world, 'Stop the war'," Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in a statement issued by his office in Kyiv, where he has been hunkered down in an air raid shelter.
News of Francis' initiative came just after the Vatican announced he had cancelled a scheduled Sunday visit to Florence and will not preside over Ash Wednesday commemorations next week because of a flare-up of "acute" knee pain.
The Vatican said the 85-year-old was cancelling his participation in the events after doctors prescribed a period of rest.
The Pope has long had sciatica nerve pain that makes him walk with a pronounced limp and has suffered for several weeks for what he has said was an inflamed ligament in his right knee.
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