Pope Leo XIV wants to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine following the failure of a meeting between the two sides in Istanbul this week.

"The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face to face, to talk to one another so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace," Leo said Friday, according to the Washington Examiner.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was a no-show at the direct peace talks in Turkey that he suggested, and the Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed to the outlet that negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations ended in less than two hours.

The Vatican called the outcome "tragic" and said the new pontiff plans to make the Holy See available to host the two sides in an effort to end the war, which began in February 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

"This is all tragic because we hoped that it would be a, maybe slow, process but with a peaceful solution to the conflict, and instead, we are back at the beginning," Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's top diplomat, said Friday in Rome, according to Politico. "Now we will see what to do, but the situation is difficult."

Parolin added that the Vatican could be a "very suitable place" to discuss peace.

Leo, who was elected to succeed the late Pope Francis by papal conclave last week, has indicated that a major priority of his pontificate will be working toward peace in Ukraine. In his first Sunday blessing in St. Peter's Square, the pope referred to "the suffering of the beloved Ukrainian people" and spoke with the embattled nation's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, by phone that same day.

In a Wednesday morning post from his official papal account, Leo put out a universal call for peace, writing on X, "I would like this greeting of peace to resound in your hearts, in your families and among all people, wherever they may be, in every nation and throughout the world."

Francis, who was serving as Pope when the conflict broke out, had also worked to broker peace in Ukraine, sending an envoy to both Moscow and Kyiv and helping to reunite Ukrainian children with their families. He also facilitated the exchange of prisoners of war between the adversaries.

Citing Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, the Examiner reported that Russia and Ukraine agreed during Friday's talks in Istanbul to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each.

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