It is almost impossible that two countries with a large Orthodox majority could meet in the heart of the Catholic Church, that is, in the Vatican, to negotiate peace. Leo XIV knows this very well, as does Pope Francis, and the Secretariat of State has always known it. Yet, in the second private audience in just two months of his pontificate, this time in the setting of Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo, where the Pontiff is spending his holidays, Prevost reiterated to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “his willingness to welcome representatives of Russia and Ukraine to the Vatican for negotiations.” The leader of the country attacked by the Kremlin immediately commented: “The proposal to hold meetings at the leader's level in the Vatican remains open and fully feasible, with the aim of stopping Russian aggression and achieving a stable, lasting and authentic peace . At the moment, only Moscow continues to reject this proposal, just as it has rejected all other peace initiatives.”

A buck-passing that repeats itself identically every time. The Pope, yesterday Francis and today Leo XIV, offers the Vatican's availability to host peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Zelensky responds that he is available, but Moscow refuses. A vicious circle that has continued in the same way for years now and that not even diplomacy—Vatican, Russian, or Ukrainian—can break, reaching a point where, in words, all the protagonists agree: the achievement of a just and lasting peace. Not that the Vatican doesn't have peace at heart in Ukraine as in the Middle East and in the other countries that are protagonists in what Bergoglio very effectively defined as a" piecemeal third world war." But each time we never manage to take a step forward and we promptly return to the starting point.

Prevost, shortly before meeting Zelensky again, reiterated his hope for peace “in a world that is burning, both because of global warming and armed conflicts.” He added that “however, in the heart of the Jubilee year, we confess – and we can say it many times: there is hope!” He also specified that"our mission to protect creation, to bring it peace and reconciliation, is his own mission: the mission that the Lord has entrusted to us. We hear the cry of the earth, we hear the cry of the poor, because this cry has reached the heart of God. Our indignation is his indignation, our work is his work." Recently, Leo XIV reiterated that"peace is a desire of all peoples, and it is the painful cry of those torn apart by war. We ask the Lord to touch the hearts and inspire the minds of governments, so that the violence of arms may be replaced by the pursuit of dialogue."

Appeals, from Bergoglio to Prevost, which follow one another without, unfortunately, ever having the desired effect. The telephone call between Leo XIV and Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 4, 2025, the first and so far only direct contact between the two leaders, had raised very positive hopes. In fact, after the breakdown of all contact between the head of the Kremlin and Bergoglio following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that telephone call finally reopened a direct channel of dialogue between Putin and the new Pope. Yet, after more than a month, there have been no concrete steps forward from Moscow, despite the request to this effect that Leo XIV had made in that very telephone call.

In Prevost's strongest speech to date, addressed on June 26, 2025, to the plenary assembly of the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Eastern Churches, there is a very important denunciation of the current dramatic world situation:"The history of the Eastern Catholic Churches has often been marked by the violence they have suffered; unfortunately there has been no shortage of abuse and misunderstandings even within the Catholic community itself, incapable of recognizing and appreciating the value of traditions different from the Western one. But today the violence of war seems to be hitting the territories of the Christian East with a diabolical vehemence never seen before. Your annual session has also been affected by this, with the physical absence of those who should have come from the Holy Land , but not were able to undertake the journey. My heart bleeds when I think of Ukraine, the tragic and inhumane situation in Gaza, and the Middle East, devastated by the spread of war. We, all of humanity, are called to evaluate the causes of these conflicts, to verify the real ones and try to overcome them, and to reject the spurious ones, the fruit of emotional simulations and rhetoric, by decisively unmasking them. People cannot die because of fake news.

Unequivocal words : “It is truly sad to witness today in many contexts the imposition of the law of the strongest, on the basis of which one's own interests are legitimized. It is disheartening to see that the force of international law and humanitarian law no longer seems to be binding, replaced by the presumed right to coerce others by force. This is unworthy of man, it is shameful for humanity and for the leaders of nations. How can one believe, after centuries of history, that warlike actions bring peace and do not backfire on those who conducted them? How can one think of laying the foundations of tomorrow without cohesion , without an overall vision animated by the common good? How can one continue to betray the desires of peoples for peace with the false propaganda of rearmament, in the vain illusion that supremacy solves problems rather than fueling hatred and revenge? People are increasingly unaware of the amount of money that goes into the pockets of the merchants of death and with which hospitals and schools could be built; and instead, those already built are destroyed!

The conclusion of this strong denunciation by Leo XIV is equally important: “And I ask myself: as Christians, beyond being indignant, raising our voices and rolling up our sleeves to be builders of peace and promote dialogue, what can we do?” As emerged in the second private audience with Zelensky, humanitarian aid and efforts to free prisoners, especially children, can certainly be, as has been amply demonstrated since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, two concrete areas in which Christians, and the Catholic Church in particular, can continue to achieve very important results by continuing this fruitful work. But, unfortunately, this is not enough if we want to achieve a just and lasting peace. And it's now clear to everyone that it's truly almost impossible for the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to take place in the Vatican. The road to peace certainly doesn't seem to pass through the smallest state in the world.