Top US diplomat Marco Rubio on Saturday hailed the Holy See for its willingness to engage in the peace process between Ukraine and Russia, just a day after Pope Leo XIV offered the Vatican as venue for potential talks between the two.
“We thank the Holy See for its willingness to be involved in this process,” Rubio told reporters in Rome, Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent who is currently traveling with Rubio reports.
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“Obviously there are a lot of other countries that have offered that as well, but... we’ll talk about that, the status of the talks, the updates after yesterday and the path forward,” Rubio said. He welcomed the Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Pope’s peace envoy for Ukraine, ahead of their meeting at the US Embassy to the Holy See.Asked if the Vatican could be one of the brokers, Rubio said: “I wouldn’t call it a broker but it certainly is a place that I would think that both sides would be comfortable coming.”
He went on to add that the US is “always grateful” to the Vatican for its willingness to play this constructive and positive role.
“We are grateful for their longstanding efforts not simply on trying to broker peace but on the exchanges of prisoners; there are children that have currently been taken from their homes that the Ukrainians would like to see returned, and they, the Holy See, have been very involved in that regard,” he concluded.
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Early on Saturday, Rubio also met with Holy See Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Holy See Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher in Vatican City, the Holy See.Speaking to reporters after his meeting, Parolin reiterated the Pope’s offer to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks at the Vatican, calling the current state of the war as “tragic.”
“We are back to the beginning. The situation is very difficult, dramatic,” he said, hinting at the failure of the Istanbul summit, given the absence of the leaders.
“Eventually we will make the Vatican, the Holy See, available for a direct meeting between the two parties,” the Parolin concluded.
The Vatican has recently become an important venue for Ukraine’s diplomacy as it hosted US President Donald Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this month during the funeral of Pope Francis. It was their first in-person meeting since an angry encounter in the Oval Office in Washington in February.
For Ukraine watchers such as Doug Klain, a policy analyst at Razom, a US-based organization that provides humanitarian aid to the war-torn country, Pope Leo could be “a real asset” and “he absolutely seems to get it on Ukraine.”
Speaking to Kyiv Post on Saturday, Klain reminded that Pope Leo’s first call to a world leader was to President Zelensky, and “he put a vital spotlight on the Ukrainian children that Russia abducted.”
“I think especially if the Pope can push for their release and create new energy for Trump himself to make sure these kids aren’t left behind, that can only help Ukraine going forward,” Klain said.
According to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Pope Leo has this week been handed a list of Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity during a ceremony at the Vatican.
“My heart goes out to the suffering and beloved people of Ukraine. Let us do everything we can to bring about a true peace, a just and lasting peace, as soon as possible,” Pope Leo was quoted as telling a representative of Ukrainian Prisoner of War families during the Jubilee of Eastern Churches held on May 12–14.
“Let all the prisoners be released and let the children return to their families,” he was quoted as saying.
On Friday, May 16, Pope Leo addressed members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, emphasizing the indispensable role of religious freedom in diplomacy and encouraged the ambassadors to pursue paths of peace with justice, truth and hope.
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