Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, echoed Pope Leo’s calls for peaceful solutions.

Agostino Giovagnoli, a professor of Church history at Milan’s Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, described the more methodical approach that has emerged from the first month of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV.

Every papal diplomat around the world must let people know that the Catholic Church is always on the side of the marginalized and is ready to face everything "out of love," Pope Leo XIV said.

Pope Leo XIV does not seek to become a mediator in Russia's war against Ukraine. Why is the Vatican refraining from taking active steps?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked Pope Leo for offering to mediate the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict but claimed that Kyiv is determined to escalate the war, according to a Kremlin statement released on Wednesday. The two leaders reportedly spoke by phone, though the date of the conversation was not disclosed.

In a phone call with Pope Leo XIV, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to favor a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine.

“To go to Jesus and let himself be healed, Bartimaeus must show himself to him in all his vulnerability. This is the fundamental step in any journey of healing,” Pope Leo XIV said in his June 11, 2025 general audience in St. Peter’s Square. (OSV News graphic/Megan Marley)

Pope Leo and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke together by phone today, June 4, for the first time, the Kremlin said.

"Humanity is greatly diminished whenever the unborn, or the undocumented, the unemployed, the unhealthy are excluded," Cardinal Blase Cupich said.