Though only days into his papacy, Pope Leo XIV has given war-weary Ukrainians reason to hope that Russia’s aggression against their nation – now in its 11th year – can be ended through a just peace.
“We are already very happy, because … he clearly named who is the victim, who is the aggressor in our situation,” Basilian Sister Lucia Murashko told OSV News.
That message “gave us hope that … the pope understands Ukraine and wants to support us,” said Sister Lucia, who, along with two fellow sisters, serves just miles from the frontlines in the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Last year, the three Basilians, along with some 80 children, narrowly avoided being killed in a deadly Dec. 6 strike by Russia as they celebrated a liturgy marking the feast of St. Nicholas. At least 10 area residents were slain and more than 20 wounded.
Lately, Russian drones have been “so many and so loud” over Zaporizhzhia, said Sister Lucia, adding that the sisters – who have not only remained in that city throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion, but regularly distribute aid in frontline areas – have more than once feared for their lives.
Now, Pope Leo’s messages and interactions – with a clear emphasis on both peace and justice, as well as dialogue – have already begun to renew Ukrainian spirits wounded by both Russia’s attacks and the West’s languishing, often conflicted efforts to support Ukraine, which have included pressure to concede to Russia territories where thousands of Ukrainians live.
After his May 18 inauguration Mass, Pope Leo met privately with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who, along with First Lady Olena Zelenska, was in attendance at the Mass.
In an X post shortly after the meeting, Zelenskyy wrote, “For millions of people around the world, the Pontiff is a symbol of hope for peace. The authority and voice of the Holy See can play an important role in bringing this war to an end. We thank the Vatican for its willingness to serve as a platform for direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. … We appreciate the support for Ukraine and the clear voice in defense of a just and lasting peace.”
On May 15, the pope met privately with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, father and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who invited him to Ukraine – as did Zelenskyy in “very warm and truly substantive” May 12 call with the pope.
Regarding the invitation, Major Archbishop Shevchuk said in a statement, “We believe that the visit of the pope could contribute to stopping the war in Ukraine.”
The statement also noted that Pope Leo told the archbishop, “I am with the Ukrainian people,” adding that “the Holy See continues and will continue to support every initiative to create the necessary conditions for dialogue and will accompany the Ukrainian people in this terrible time in their history.”
During his papal meeting, Major Archbishop Shevchuk said, “The Ukrainian people have already characterized you as the pope of peace,” adding that the pope’s calls to end the war “are a true spiritual balm for the wounded soul of the Ukrainian people” as they face the eradication of their nation and identity by Russia.
The archbishop said that Pope Leo’s concern for the tens of thousands of Ukrainian children forcibly deported by Russia “demonstrates your special paternal attention to the first victims of the war in Ukraine.”
He also entrusted to the pope lists of Ukrainians missing or held captive by Russia, while asking for the Vatican’s continued mediation in prisoner releases – as had taken place under Pope Francis – and invited the pope to meet with Ukrainian pilgrims in Rome during the upcoming Jubilee of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in June.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, speaking May 14 at a theological conference on Ukraine held in Rome, said that Pope Leo and his predecessor Pope Francis were “two popes, two voices, united by the same feeling, the same evangelical compassion, united in outlining a path of hope, a hope born of pain, a path of peace built on truth, a path of faith that does not surrender to the logic of war.”
The cardinal and Major Archbishop Shevchuk were among the panelists at “Toward a Theology of Hope for and from Ukraine,” a May 14-15 gathering hosted by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and jointly sponsored by that school, Ukrainian Catholic University and the University of Notre Dame.
The two-day conference also featured the exhibition “Unissued Diplomas,” a display created by students at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy to honor 40 peers who were killed in Russia’s war (as either military or civilians) before they could graduate.
Speaking in Italian, Major Archbishop Shevchuk told conference participants May 14 that amid the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, Ukrainians “want to share with courage our faith in the risen Savior, risen with the whole world.
“We are not afraid of the truth of our struggle, of the truth about peace, about justice, for which we fight and which we try to build every day,” he said.
Conference moderator Taras Dobko, rector of Ukrainian Catholic University, said he was “filled with hope upon hearing the first words of the Holy Father,” which were Christ’s call to peace.
“We are longing for peace in Ukraine,” which “will let us lead a life of dignity, and without fear,” said Dobko.
He noted that the conference coincided with the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches in Rome, at which Pope Leo, addressing pilgrims at a May 14 gathering, affirmed the faith of what he called their “martyr Churches” – many of whose members face conflict, persecution and hardship in their countries of origin.
“Who, better than you, can sing a song of hope even amid the abyss of violence?” Pope Leo asked them, highlighting communities from Ukraine as well as the Holy Land, Syria, Lebanon, Tigray and the Caucasus.
Speaking to diplomats accredited to the Holy See May 16, Pope Leo highlighted the interconnectedness between peace, justice, truth and charity – all of which have been central to the Ukrainian Catholic bishops’ messaging throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The pope stressed to the diplomats that “working for peace requires acting justly,” and said the Vatican will not fail “to make its voice heard in the face of the many imbalances and injustices that lead, not least, to unworthy working conditions and increasingly fragmented and conflict-ridden societies.”
“The Church can never be exempted from speaking the truth about humanity and the world, resorting whenever necessary to blunt language that may initially create misunderstanding,” said Pope Leo. “Yet truth can never be separated from charity, which always has at its root a concern for the life and well-being of every man and woman.”
At the Ukraine theological conference, human rights defender and Ukrainian Catholic University rector’s advisor Myroslav Marynovych – who was a political prisoner under Soviet rule in Ukraine – said in his May 14 keynote address that he looked forward to “Pope Leo XIV convening an extraordinary synod of bishops to discuss and clarify the ambiguous and/or ambivalent doctrinal issue of war and peace.”
Such discussion was needed by a frequent failure in the international community to recognize both “the existence of absolute goodness” as well as “ontological evil” in assessing Russia’s war on Ukraine, said Marynovych.
He also pointed to an analysis by Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia, showing that Ukrainians defending their nation are exemplifying the four principles of Catholic social teaching: human dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity and the common good.
In Zaporizhzhia, Sister Lucia and her fellow Basilians live out those principles daily amid constant air alerts – and while their ultimate trust is in God, she said, Pope Leo has lifted their spirit and “stands with us.”
