BBC | Italy has backed President Donald Trump's suggestion the Vatican might mediate talks on negotiating a ceasefire in Ukraine, while he appears keen to step back from the process himself.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office said Italy was ready to "facilitate contacts and work towards peace" in Ukraine and it "viewed positively" what it said was the Pope's willingness to host the talks at the Vatican.
In fact there's no firm agreement yet on further discussions: last Friday's meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul brought additional demands from Moscow, not progress.
Pope Leo said last week the Vatican was "always ready" to bring enemies together and he would "make every effort" for peace to prevail.
But the Holy See says the idea of hosting, or even mediating, talks – which Trump suggested was an option - is more a hope for now than any concrete plan.
If direct engagement does continue, Ukraine seems open to the notion of the Vatican as host.
Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X on Tuesday that he had talked to Giorgia Meloni, including about "possible platforms for talks with the Russians".
The Italian prime minister had, he said, "as always, cool ideas", although he has raised Turkey and Switzerland as alternative venues too.
The Kremlin might prefer to stay in Turkey. It talks about a process called "Istanbul Plus", styling any talks as a follow-up on the deal initially discussed in Turkey shortly after the full-scale invasion.
Those terms, which included Ukraine drastically reducing its own military, would represent capitulation for Kyiv now.
But Russia has added more: the "plus" part means recognition of its annexation of four partially occupied regions of Ukraine as well as Crimea.
The actual venue matters little to the Kremlin: all it wants is for the discussion to be on Vladimir Putin's terms.