With mild winter temperatures returning to Rome, the audience was once again held outdoors in St. Peter’s Square, where the women were able to approach the pope at the close of the catechesis.
Traveling with the group was Kateryna Muzlova, director of the charitable foundation Heart in Action, along with 11 other Ukrainian women representing nongovernmental organizations and associations that support the families of prisoners of war and the missing.
“Shaking the pope’s hand, feeling his closeness to all the families who suffer because of the war, and entrusting him with all our concern has been a great opportunity to put our hearts into action and fill them with hope and deep spiritual consolation,” Muzlova said in remarks to official Vatican media.
Muzlova is known particularly for “Voices of Captives,” an initiative that seeks to bring greater visibility to the plight of Ukrainian prisoners of war and to keep public attention focused on those who remain in captivity.
Her own father, Oleh, was captured by Russian forces while defending the city of Mariupol and was freed after three years in prison on June 19. Since his release, the two have continued their efforts on behalf of Ukrainian families seeking reunion with husbands, sons, and fathers still held by Russian authorities.
Muzlova also noted that about a year ago she attended one of Pope Francis’ final general audiences; a few days later, she was able to speak by phone with her father for the first time after his release.
Also present at the meeting was Andrii Yurash, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See.
Symbolic gifts for the pope
During the encounter, the Ukrainian delegation presented Pope Leo XIV with a St. Nicholas icon made with amber from northern Ukraine, as well as a painting titled “Guardian Angel” by artist Olha Sypelyk depicting a sleeping child while an angel watches not only over the home but also over the child’s future. Sypelyk auctions off her works to help people in vulnerable situations.
The group also gave the pope a portrait of himself painted by a 12-year-old girl — the daughter of Serhii Nazareskul, a Ukrainian soldier missing on the front lines. The girl lives in Odesa and continues attending school and developing her artistic talent despite frequent power outages.
Among the women present — many holding Ukrainian flags — were representatives of charitable organizations assisting relatives of those missing or detained in Russia, including Valentyna Shcherbyna, the mother of a student captured in Kherson and a member of an association that supports families with loved ones in Russian prisons.
Men also participated in the delegation, including Oleh Litvynenko of the Veterans Hub Odessa regiment. His son, Mykyta, died in June 2022, and his remains were recovered in February 2025.