ROME (OSV News) — In a powerful, unexpected moment at the Vatican, U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met inside St. Peter’s Basilica on April 26 — just ahead of Pope Francis’ funeral Mass. Metropolitan Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia was not aware of the moment as it happened — he was already in St. Peter’s Square. He only heard applause when President Zelenskyy stepped into the square.
Commenting on the historic moment April 26, Archbishop Gudziak said that, through the encounter, “Pope Francis is giving a gift” to the world — “maybe not the last one, but a gift at the time of farewell to the prospects of peace.”
The quiet summit marked the presidents’ first face-to-face meeting since a tense February Oval Office meeting, and also took place as Trump has put pressure on Zelenskyy to accept his terms for peace negotiations, which would allow Russia to control Ukrainian territory it seized by warfare.
“The circumstances should not be underestimated,” Archbishop Gudziak said. “They were circumstances which inspire. Which point to profound truths about human life and which call to responsibility. They are also majestic circumstances. First, in St. Peter’s Basilica, and then outside in the piazza.”
“What is noteworthy,” Archbishop Gudziak said, “is that they sat down and both the photographs and initial reports indicate that there was an encounter, there was a meeting — the first after the ruptured rendezvous at the White House in February.”
He commented that amid “fundamentally devious” rhetoric of President Vladimir Putin, President Zelenskyy “representing the entire Ukrainian people is in a painful predicament of trying to negotiate a just peace, in a field of both inflammatory and deceptive language.”
“It is good that the channels of communications on a personal level between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy have reopened. I would not venture to predict what the consequences of this conversation may be, but it is clear that President Trump is beginning to understand that Vladimir Putin has no interest in peace. He has not stepped back from his initial and continuously repeated U.S. intentions of obliterating Ukraine. And history shows that every time that there is a Russian occupation, the Ukrainian Catholic Church is also obliterated. So Ukrainians have no illusions about the intentions of the Russian side,” Archbishop Gudziak told OSV News.
The Ukrainian prelate added that “it’s clear that having first promised to end the war in 24 hours, he sees that Putin does not want peace and is doing everything to undermine its possibility by continuing brutal attacks on a daily basis, killing civilians, children and destroying schools and hospitals.”
Just two days after Pope Francis’ death, Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Kyiv April 23, killing at least 12 people and wounding over 70 in the biggest attack on Ukraine’s capital this year. Russia’s aerial assault began at 1 a.m. April 24 and lasted 11 hours.
In another conversation with OSV News the day before the funeral, on April 25, Archbishop Gudziak reflected on Pope Francis’ legacy toward Ukraine.
“I think in the last three years or so, he has appealed for prayer for Ukraine publicly on Wednesdays and Sundays and on other occasions, maybe 350 times,” he said. “And that’s very important.”
But he also added that “some Ukrainians remember that some of his expressions were ambiguous. And many Ukrainians were hurt by that.”
He added that in 2022, during an hour-and-a-half conversation with Pope Francis, “I had a chance to have an opportunity to explain some issues … and I was moved by his humility and his willingness to listen.”
After listening to Archbishop Gudziak, Pope Francis said: “I’m a sinner. In other words, I make mistakes,” the Philadelphia metropolitan recalled.
“But all Ukrainians should know that I love them very much,” the pope told Archbishop Gudziak.
Upon Francis’ passing, the Ukrainian prelate said, “We pray for a sinner who loved us very much,” adding, “I think Pope Francis could recognize his sinfulness with serenity because he knew God’s love and he had the joy of the Gospel. And I think the joy of the Gospel will be his lasting legacy.”
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