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Vatican City.- Leo XIV and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance met this Monday in the Vatican and expressed their desire for "a negotiated solution to be reached" in the conflict zones, without mentioning the war in Ukraine, although the Pope has offered the Holy See as a place to hold peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
The American pontiff received Vance, with whom he spoke for about 45 minutes, the day after seeing the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and after offering the Holy See, in a speech, as a place for a negotiating table on the Ukrainian conflict.
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During Vance's visit to the Vatican, "an exchange of views took place on some current international issues, expressing the wish that humanitarian law and international law be respected in conflict zones and that a negotiated solution be reached between the parties involved," the Holy See indicated in a statement.
Vance gave the Pope a Chicago Bears American football team jersey.
"During the cordial conversations at the Secretariat of State, satisfaction with the good bilateral relations was renewed and emphasis was placed on the collaboration between the Church and the State, as well as on some issues of special relevance to ecclesial life and religious freedom," the Vatican added in its note.
According to the vice president's press office, the meeting concluded at 8:40 a.m. and was also attended by the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, both Catholics, who arrived at the Vatican with their respective wives.
The audience was held in the library of the pontifical palace, the place intended for meetings with authorities and Heads of Government, and in the photographs distributed by the Vatican, Vance and Leo XIV are seen smiling broadly.
After the meeting, Vance also held a meeting with the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Richard Gallagher.
While Rubio had already met with the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, the day before the beginning of the pontificate mass.
Both Vance and Zelensky attended the papal inauguration mass this Sunday, of the pope, born in the United States and also with a Peruvian passport.
The audience takes place after the American Pope met with Zelensky on Sunday after mass, who was accompanied by his wife, Olena Zelenska; the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sibiga; the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, and the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash.
The Ukrainian leader also subsequently met with Vance at the U.S. embassy in Rome.
These meetings are taking place at a time when Ukraine and Russia have just held in Istanbul the first direct negotiations since 2022 in search of a ceasefire.
