Pope, Russian Orthodox head discuss Ukraine and 'just peace'

Pope Francis and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church have spoken by phone about Ukraine and the need for a “just peace.”

ROME -- Pope Francis and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke on the phone Wednesday about Ukraine and the need for a “just peace,” the Russian church said, in the first known communication between the two leaders since the Kremlin's invasion.

The call was all the more remarkable because Francis and Kirill have only met once — at the Havana airport in 2016 — in what was then the first encounter between a pope and Russian patriarch in over 1,000 years.

Wednesday's call came just hours after Francis evoked the specter of a “final catastrophe” of an atomic war that would extinguish humanity during his weekly general audience. While Francis didn’t reference Ukraine explicitly in that part of his speech, he did elsewhere call for prayers for Ukraine and for God to protect its children and forgive those who make war.

Francis’ long-term goal to improve relations with Kirill and avoid antagonizing the Russian Orthodox Church had explained his initially tepid responses to the Feb. 24 Russian invasion. He has since stepped up his denunciations, demanding “an end to this massacre,” and labeling the invasion an “unacceptable armed aggression.”