Lütfullah Göktas, the ambassador of Turkey to the Holy See, met with Pope Francis in a May 28 audience.

“Pope Francis appreciates our President Erdogan’s efforts to reconcile Ukraine and Russia,” the ambassador tweeted after the meeting. “A solution can only be found through diplomacy and negotiations, not thru war. The only possible way to establish a ceasefire and begin negotiations is through diplomacy.”

Erdogan has “cast himself as the main mediator between Russia and Ukraine,” Euronews recently reported. The Associated Press reported that “Erdogan appears to be using Turkey’s role as a mediator in the Ukraine war and its ability to veto new NATO members as an opportunity to air a variety of grievances and to force other nations to take action against groups the Turkish government views as terrorists, including Kurdish militants.”