His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk Brings ‘Ukraine’s Prayers’ and List of Prisoners to Pope Leo
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, thanking him for his appeals for peace and the Holy See’s humanitarian efforts on behalf of prisoners and children, as well as its concern for the people of Oleshky.
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.
Gratitude for support for Ukraine
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.
The missions of Cardinal Zuppi and Archbishop Gallagher
Launched under Pope Francis and renewed by Pope Leo XIV, that mission included visits to Kyiv and Moscow last summer by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations.
Their four visits included meetings with political and Church representatives. Cardinal Zuppi also visited a Russian detention facility holding Ukrainians captured on the battlefield.
Major Archbishop Shevchuk stressed that this was the first time a representative of an international institution had been able to visit Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia.
“It is a sign that no one is forgotten. The Lord God remembers everyone. And the Mother Church is working to ensure that all our prisoners of war and illegally detained hostages are released as soon as possible,” he said.
He also recalled Archbishop Gallagher’s words in Moscow that there can be no military solution to the war, and that conditions must therefore be created for a political and diplomatic process.
Concern as winter approaches
During their conversation in the library of the Apostolic Palace, Major Archbishop Shevchuk also spoke of the challenges facing Ukraine as another bitterly cold winter approaches, with the country’s infrastructure damaged by bombardment.
He asked for the support and solidarity of the international Catholic community during this time of trial for the Ukrainian people.
A response will come in the next few days, when Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín, the Papal Almoner and Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, visits Ukraine from 27 to 30 October.
He will bring food, medicine and other essential supplies, and above all convey Pope Leo XIV’s closeness to the people. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is closely involved in the mission.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Synod
Major Archbishop Shevchuk also briefed the Pope on his Church’s latest Synod of Bishops, which focused on vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life.
The Synod, he explained, reaffirmed the need to nurture vocations amid the demographic and humanitarian crises caused by Russia’s aggression.
‘Thank you for your witness’
According to Major Archbishop Shevchuk, Pope Leo XIV thanked the bishops, priests, monastics and faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for their distinctive witness of faith during the war.
The Major Archbishop, in turn, assured the Pope of the prayers and support of Ukrainian Greek Catholics as he continues his recovery from thoracic surgery.
Gifts from Kyiv
Among the gifts brought from Kyiv were a Vatican City postage stamp and an accompanying booklet commemorating three significant events in the life of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, produced in cooperation with the Vatican postal service.
Major Archbishop Shevchuk also presented a special Ukrainian stamp depicting Pope Leo XIV, issued, he explained, “as a sign of gratitude to the Holy See for its humanitarian mission”.
Other gifts included a photographic album entitled Pilgrims of Hope, commemorating the Ukrainian community’s meeting with the Pope, and Hemingway Knows Nothing, a book by Arthur Dron, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Previous meetings
Pope Leo XIV’s first official meeting with Major Archbishop Shevchuk took place on 15 May 2025, when the newly elected Pope received him at the Apostolic Palace.
On 28 June that year, the Pope went to St Peter’s Basilica for the Jubilee celebration of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Looking out at the children, older people, couples and, especially, the mothers of soldiers killed on the front line, he expressed his sorrow over “a senseless war”.
Another private audience followed on 12 February 2026, when Major Archbishop Shevchuk handed the Pope a list of 400 prisoners of war.
The Major Archbishop subsequently returned to the Vatican for the summit marking the tenth anniversary of Amoris laetitia, to which the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches were also invited.
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