Vatican secretary of state meets Ukrainian president Zelenskyy

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. / Credit: Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images; Horacio Villalobos Corbis/Getty Images

Vatican City, Jul 23, 2024 / 13:23 pm (CNA).

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday at the end of a diplomatic visit to the country.

Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X that he had “a meaningful meeting” with Parolin and is “grateful for [the] cardinal’s support of our country and people.”

Earlier the same day, Parolin toured the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv and met some of its young patients.

The country’s largest pediatric hospital partially reopened early last week, one week after it was seriously damaged in an alleged Russian missile attack on July 9.

Russia has denied responsibility for the attack, which reportedly injured dozens of children receiving treatment at the hospital.

According to Zelenskyy, he and Parolin mainly discussed the decisions of the international summit on peace in Ukraine held in Switzerland in June and the Vatican’s role in facilitating peace. 

Zelenskyy also said they spoke about Russia’s ongoing aerial attacks and the humanitarian situation in the country as well as the outcomes of the president’s meeting with Pope Francis during the G7 in Italy last month.

The Secretariat of State said in a post on X that Parolin, in his meeting with Zelenskyy, “reiterated the pope’s closeness and commitment to finding a just and lasting peace.”

Parolin also met with Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, and the president of the Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, on Monday.

Tuesday marked the last full day of Parolin’s July 19–24 trip to Ukraine. It was the diplomat’s first visit to the country since the outbreak of war with Russia in 2022.

He also celebrated Mass for Latin-rite Ukrainian Catholics at the Marian shrine of Berdychiv on Sunday, traveled to the severely-damaged port city of Odesa, and met with Catholic and Orthodox leaders, including Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.