Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not refuse to speak to Pope Leo XIV about a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine war. Propagandists faked a screenshot of the Vatican news portal Vatican News in another attempt to discredit Ukraine.
Social media users and pro-Kremlin media began spreading the false claim that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had allegedly refused to discuss the “earliest possible peaceful solution” to the Russia-Ukraine war with the newly elected Pope Leo XIV. They claim that this alleged “refusal” resulted in their first telephone conversation lasting “no more than 5 minutes instead of the scheduled hour”. These messages are accompanied by a doctored screenshot of a Vatican News article purporting to report the incident.
After this information started circulating, StopFake decided to check whether Zelenskyy had really “refused” to discuss a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine war with Pope Leo XIV. As it turned out, Russian propaganda had once again fabricated the news.
The screenshot of the Vatican News website showing a “failed” conversation between Zelenskyy and Leo XIV is fake. On 12 May, the Vatican’s official news portal published a story about the phone call under the same title as the propaganda image: “Pope Leo XIV speaks by phone with Ukraine’s President Zelensky”. However, the content of the Vatican News article differs from what the propagandists are spreading. There is no mention that Zelenskyy “refused” to discuss anything, or that the call “lasted no more than 5 minutes instead of the planned hour”.
“Pope Leo XIV and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have spoken by phone following the Pope’s appeal ‘that every effort be made’ for long and lasting peace in Ukraine and that all children be returned to their families,” the original report states.
As for the content of the actual news article, it also contains none of the claims made by the propaganda. Instead, it contains remarks by the Holy See’s Director of the Press, Matteo Bruni. He stated that Pope Leo XIV had called for “never again be war”. The report also includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s reaction to the phone call. The article quotes the President as saying: “Ukraine wants to end this war and is doing everything to achieve that“. Clearly, propagandists simply altered the description of the Vatican News article in yet another attempt to discredit Ukraine.Previously, StopFake debunked the claim that Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, allegedly said that Pope Francis died because of his support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
