VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke for the first time in a phone call Wednesday (June 4), according to Vatican and Russian officials, and agreed to extend Pope Francis’ efforts to build ties between the two countries.
The Kremlin said in a statement that Putin congratulated the pontiff on his election and acknowledged Francis’ “immense personal contribution” to furthering relations between the Holy See and Russia. Putin and Leo XIV “agreed to pursue efforts to develop these ties further on the basis of common spiritual and moral values with a view to establishing a more just world order,” the statement added.
The Kremlin statement also said the two leaders discussed a joint effort to protect Christian holy sites, especially in the Middle East.
But most significantly for Europeans weary of three years of war on their eastern frontier, the Russian president pledged to seek peace in Ukraine.
“While exchanging views with the pope on the situation in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his willingness to achieve peace through political and diplomatic means, pointing out that in order to reach an ultimate, fair, and thorough resolution, it was necessary to eliminate the root causes of the crisis,” the statement read.
Putin thanked the pope fo …