President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday held a private audience with Pope Francis, where they discussed the need to help the innocent victims of the war, the Vatican reported..

During the 40-minute conversation, they discussed issues related to the "

The 86-year-old pontiff assured Zelensky "

“Together they agreed on the need to continue humanitarian activities to support the population. The Pope emphasized the urgent need for \? towards the most vulnerable people, the innocent victims of the conflict”.

After a conversation with the Bishop of Rome, the Ukrainian President met with the Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. The central theme of the conversation was the war in Ukraine, the pressing humanitarian issues associated with it, and the need to continue efforts to achieve peace.. A number of bilateral issues were also discussed, mainly relating to the life of the Catholic Church in the country, according to the communique of the Vatican Press Hall.

In an evening video message, Zelensky noted that a conversation with the Pope can really influence history, can really help stop the evil of aggression..

" Asked His Holiness to help bring our children home to Ukraine. He also told other points of our peace formula, except for the return of all deportees and prisoners. And I believe that the will and sincerity of His Holiness can bring the implementation of our peace formula closer, they can bring a fair, honest world closer,"

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It should be noted that the all-Ukrainian survey conducted by the sociological service of the Razumkov Center commissioned by ZN. UA showed that the Pope, for the most part, is of little interest to Ukrainians. In the rating of trust in the heads of churches, Pope Francis received 3.1% support.

On the eve of the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Vatican, it turned out that half of the respondents either do not know anything about the position of the Pope regarding the war in Ukraine and his attempts to reconcile the warring countries (“I know nothing about the position of Pope Francis” - 36.2%), or do not.

In general, about 34% of Ukrainians negatively assess the position of the Pope regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war: 23. 8% are offended that Pope Francis equates Russians and Ukrainians, considering them equally “victims of the war”, and another 10.3% believe that the pontiff “works in the interests of the Kremlin”.

The desire of the pope to end the war at any cost is supported by 9.1% of respondents.