ROME (KAP) - Pope Leo XIV and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance met at the Vatican on Monday ahead of the launch of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia's war in Ukraine. Vance, a convert to the Catholic faith, led the U.S. delegation to a solemn mass that launched the pontificate of the first American pope. On Monday, he was joined at the meeting by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, said Vance's spokesman Luke Schroeder.
"There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, with a call for respect for humanitarian and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved," the Vatican said in a statement after their meeting.
The Vatican said Vance's delegation was the first of several private audiences Leo held Monday with people who came to Rome for his inaugural Mass, including other Christian leaders and a group of faithful from his old diocese in Chiclayo, Peru. The Vatican, which was largely sidelined during the first three years of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has offered to host possible peace talks while continuing humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner exchanges and reunite Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
After briefly greeting Leo at the end of Sunday's Mass, Vance spent the rest of the day in separate meetings, including with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also met with European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who expressed the hope that the rehearsal meeting could be a "new beginning."
In the evening, Meloni spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump and several other European officials ahead of Trump's expected Monday phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Meloni's office said in a statement.
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