Pope Francis would have been “filled with hope” by the meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky that took place ahead of his funeral, according to the most recent ambassador to the Holy See.
The Pope was deeply concerned by Russia’s war on Ukraine — especially the fate of the 19,000 Ukrainian children deported to Russia — Joe Donnelly, appointed as the U.S. representative at the Vatican by Joe Biden, told Politico shortly after the service.
“I think that Pope Francis would have been filled with hope, and would hope that the result that came out of that meeting would be a good one for Ukraine and the world,” Donnelly told Playbook regarding the photo of the two presidents meeting one-on-one shortly before the service on Saturday morning.
Donnelly said that, during his time as ambassador, he worked with special envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi “almost nonstop to bring the Ukrainian children home who were taken by Russia and also to try to get peace talks started, and one of the things that Cardinal Zuppi and I worked so hard on was to try to get the parties engaged in peace talks.”
He added: “Our dream was that the Vatican would be the perfect place for it — and look what happened today.”
Zelensky said his meeting with Trump “has potential to become historic”, after the pair discussed the future of Ukraine amid hopes for a peace deal.
Describing it as a “good meeting,” the Ukrainian president wrote on social media: “We discussed a lot one-on-one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out.
“Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.”
White House communications director Steven Cheung said the pair “had a very productive discussion”.
The meeting was the first time the two leaders had met face-to-face since their disastrous Oval Office meeting in February.
As he touched down in Rome, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that it had been “a good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine” after Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy who has been deeply involved in the negotiations, met Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday for peace talks.
“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off.’ Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
After the Vatican meeting with Zelensky, Trump appeared to take a tougher stance on Putin. As he flew back to the U.S. on Air Force One, he specifically called out the Russian leader for the continued bombing of civilian areas of Ukraine.
“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war,” the president posted on his social media platform.
“He’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
Trump has nominated Brian Burch, co-founder of CatholicVote, a political organization that backed him for president and a critic of Pope Francis, as his ambassador to the Holy See.
