Pope Francis to meet Ukraine’s Zelenskiy on Friday

Pope Francis will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday morning, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

Francis last saw the Ukrainian president on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in southern Italy this summer. The two also met at the Vatican in December 2023.

Zelenskiy is also expected to hold talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during his stay in Rome this week.

Francis drew the ire of Ukrainian officials in March when he suggested they should have the courage of the “white flag” to negotiate an end to the war with Russia, following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Zelenskiy dismissed the pope’s remarks as “virtual mediation” from a distance.

Francis recently announced he will make a bishop in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church one of 21 new Catholic cardinals, during a ceremony to be held Dec. 8.