In A Break From Francis, Pope Leo XIV Is Speaking Loud And Clear On Ukraine

-Analysis-

Updated May. 16, 2025 at 4:30 p.m.

ROME — Pope Leo XIV is wasting no time in a world that has no time to waste. On Friday, the newly elected Pontiff offered the Vatican as a venue for direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine after the failure of the Volodymyr Zelensky-Vladimir Putin summit to materialize in Istanbul, calling the missed opportunity “tragic.”

Since his election on May 8, Leo has already spoken with President Zelenskyy, called publicly for peace, and urged both leaders to negotiate.

Of course the pontiff is well aware that there’s war not only in Ukraine. The conflicts already noted on the pontifical radar screen include Gaza and Kashmir. Indeed, after emerging from the Conclave, the new Pope immediately began with a general message totally dominated by the word “peace.”

Yet in his first Sunday prayers in St. Peter’s Square, as he repeated his call for “no more wars,” Leo also offered more specific messages. The Pope’s call for peace cites the conditions necessary to achieve it: “justice … for the beloved Ukrainian people,” and the release of the hostages alongside “relief for the exhausted civilian population” of Gaza. 

Strong points. They do not take anything away from the guiding, evangelical vision of peace as a universal good, but they show a Pontiff aware of the concrete obstacles on the way to getting there. And those obstacles must be removed. 

And Leo XIV says it just at the moment the earthly workings of diplomacy are, finally, offering signs of life to end the war in Ukraine, as well as potentially unlock a deal in the Middle East and quiet the clashes between India and Pakistan. 

The message of peace from Saint Peter’s Square thus also becomes a significant encouragement to the ongoing political-diplomatic initiatives. For peace on earth, “men of good will” are needed. Donald Trump is also enlisted. Volodymyr Zelensky joins. And that leaves Vladimir Putin with his back against the wall.

On Monday, Pope Leo spoke by telephone for the first time with Zelensky, who invited him to visit Kyiv. 

Admire, never imitate

Just three days after his election to the throne of St. Peter, the man born Robert Francis Prevost has already left the original imprint of his personality and education, from Chicago to Lima, as clear evidence of continuity with Francis.

Yet true leaders, earthly or religious, admire but do not imitate. In Pope Leo, what emerges immediately is the makings of a true leader, up to the test of facing such a tragically earthly event as war itself. If, on Ukraine, Pope Francis appeared to say, at least initially, that to have peace it may be necessary to turn the other cheek, Pope Leo XIV says “that’s enough slaps now.”

Putin is still the main obstacle to peace

After three years and three months of Russian aggression, demanding an “authentic, just and lasting peace” is a direct message to Vladimir Putin. And it came on the same day that the Russian president again dodged the Ukrainian, European and American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, with a counter-proposal of negotiations without interrupting the war. 

This still makes Putin the main obstacle to peace. After Zelensky’s counteroffer, truce plus negotiations, he has no more excuses.

In step with Trump

There has been plenty of talk these past few days about Leo XIV as the antithesis of Donald Trump. The contrast was immediately recognized in the U.S., perhaps most of all by the so-called “MAGA” diehard supporters of the U.S. president.  For migrants and the other marginalized populations of the world, Pope Leo XIV is the polar opposite of the MAGA rhetoric. Trump wants undocumented migrants deported, no matter what; Leo, like Francis before him, wants them treated with basic human dignitys. Here the distance is unbridgeable, and this also applies to the MAGA-minded supporters in Europe and Italy.

But on the question of peace, Leo XIV’s Vatican and Donald Trump’s White House are not far away. The American President presented himself as a leader who stops wars. He intervened on Pakistan and India to convince them to ceasefire. He’s pushed for  diplomatic initiatives on Ukraine and with Iran. On Trump’s trip this week to the Middle East, he could put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu for a truce — with the release of hostages — in Gaza. 

The Lord works in mysterious ways

And on Ukraine, Trump has threatened sanctions on Russia if it does not accept the ceasefire proposed by Volodymyr Zelensky and four European leaders. In all of this, the U.S. President now finds a powerful ally in a fellow American, Pope Leo XIV, who directly appeals to the “powerful people of the world.”

That is Trump first and foremost, of course — but isn’t he doing exactly what the Pontiff asks? 

Perhaps he does it for less noble purposes: Trump boasted of more trade with India and Pakistan as the motivation for orchestrating the Kashmir ceasefire. But the Lord works in mysterious ways. What if multiple peace deals eventually lead to the coveted Nobel Peace Prize? Awarded jointly to two Americans, Donald Trump and Robert Francis Prevost? Those mysterious ways are infinite.

*Originally published May. 12, 2025, this article was updated on May 16, 2025 with additional news about the Vatican as possible host of peace talks.