Shevchuk brings ‘Ukraine’s prayers’ and list of prisoners to Pope Leo

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, came to his audience with Pope Leo XIV bearing gifts, the prayers and gratitude of the Ukrainian people, and a list of hundreds of prisoners of war held in Russia.

According to a statement from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Major Archbishop handed the list to the Pope during their meeting in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

It was his fifth meeting with Pope Leo, whose efforts for peace between Russia and Ukraine have included recent telephone calls with Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. In those conversations, the Pope appealed for a truce in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, where civilians face a desperate shortage of food, water and medicine.

Major Archbishop Shevchuk expressed particular gratitude for the calls—the conversation with President Putin took place while the Pope was in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital—and for the attention given to the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Oleshky.

Throughout the audience, Major Archbishop Shevchuk repeatedly thanked the Pope for his support for Ukraine, so often described by Pope Francis as “martyred”, and for his continuing appeals for an end to the war.

He expressed particular appreciation for the Holy See’s “humanitarian diplomacy”, aimed at easing the suffering of civilians, securing the release of prisoners of war and civilians held by Russia, and bringing home Ukrainian children transferred away from their places of origin.