Pope Leo XIV had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday and spoke about ceasefire proposals, Zelenskiy said, in the first known conversation between the newly-elected pontiff and a foreign leader.

Leo urged an end to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. "I carry in my heart the suffering of the beloved Ukrainian people," he said. "Let us do everything possible to reach a genuine, just and lasting peace as soon as possible. May all prisoners be freed and children be able to return to their families."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Pope Leo XIV to Ukraine. During their first phone chat, Zelensky thanked him for supporting peace.

Pope Leo XIV stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to thunderous applause and an electric atmosphere, to deliver his first Sunday blessing and an address calling for peace in Ukraine and Gaza.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke by phone with newly elected Pope Leo XIV on Monday and said they discussed Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and a proposal from allies for a 30-day ceasefire which Moscow has so far not accepted.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV vowed to take “every effort” Wednesday to work for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine and to actively promote the spirituality and traditions of the eastern rite churches, those Catholic communities with origins in the Mideast and eastern Europe that have been decimated by years of conflict and persecution.

"War is never inevitable," the pope told them. "Weapons can and must be silenced, for they do not resolve problems but only increase them."

Born in the U.S., forged in Peru, chosen in Rome, Leo XIV will helm a church facing debt, division and decline