Pope Leo XIV installed as new Catholic leader, set to meet Ukraine’s Zelenskiy

Pope Leo will have a private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later on Sunday following the pope’s inaugural Mass, the Vatican said.

Leo spoke with Zelenskiy on Monday in the first known conversation between the newly-elected pontiff and a foreign leader, underscoring his concern for the war in Ukraine.

After a first ride in the popemobile before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square, Leo was formally installed as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign monarch of Vatican City at an outdoor Mass.

At the end of the Mass, Leo expressed hope for negotiations to bring a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine and offered prayers for the people of Gaza — children, families and elderly who are “reduced to hunger,” he said.