Pope’s Meeting with Zelenski: Beneath the Surface of Vatican Diplomacy

On July 9th, Pope Leo XIV received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome. The official announcement from the Holy See was brief but telling: a private audience reflecting the Vatican's persistent, behind-the-scenes engagement in international political affairs.This marks their second formal encounter since Zelenski’s visit during Pope Leo XIV’s entronement Mass on May 18, when the pontiff called for a "just peace" in Ukraine. While such appeals sound virtuous, they conveniently skirt the hard realities defining this brutal conflict on European soil—realities that demand clear-eyed American leadership rather than symbolic moralizing.Zelenski arrived...