Pope urges Ukraine talks as Vatican envoy pursues prisoner and child returns
Leo’s appeal runs alongside humanitarian diplomacy, with no ceasefire agreement announced.
Pope Leo urged Russia and Ukraine to return to dialogue on September 28, as the Vatican pursued a separate humanitarian channel addressing prisoners of war and children separated from their families.
Speaking to reporters on the flight from Metz to Rome, the pope said the Church should keep inviting leaders to meet and seek alternatives to continuing war. The Vatican’s transcript framed his argument around human dignity, protecting life and directing more resources toward health and education.
His appeal followed a speech in France in which he called for willingness to relinquish some positions in the pursuit of peace, Reuters reported. He did not announce an agreed negotiation, a ceasefire or specific terms accepted by either government.
On the same day, Vatican News reported that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi had begun a three-day mission to Moscow. Its stated focus was humanitarian: prisoners of war, civilians and children transferred away from their places of origin.
Zuppi said the mission, first entrusted to him by Pope Francis and continued under Leo, was assessing requests from both Ukrainian and Russian sides. The report described planned institutional meetings, not completed prisoner exchanges or confirmed returns of children.
The two efforts operated at different levels. The pope made a broad moral appeal; the envoy sought practical contacts on particular humanitarian cases. Neither should be mistaken for evidence that the underlying political and security disputes had been resolved.
A subsequent Vatican account, published October 2, offered a concrete record of the mission's conclusion. Zuppi visited a camp holding Ukrainian prisoners of war on September 30, spoke with detainees and conveyed the pope's wish that they return home. In July, he had visited camps holding Russian prisoners in Ukraine's Lviv region.
In Moscow, the envoy met Yuri Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin's foreign-policy adviser. Vatican News said their discussions covered military and civilian prisoners, missing people, family reunification and the return of children. He also met Russian officials responsible for human rights and children's rights.
Zuppi called for checks needed to reunite families to be strengthened and accelerated. The wording identifies a procedural obstacle: individual cases must be verified and resolved, even when political contacts exist. The account did not announce a numerical result from the visit or identify a completed new exchange.
The mission ended September 30. Its documented meetings and prison visit give substance to the humanitarian channel, while leaving the pope's broader call for negotiations without an announced diplomatic breakthrough.
