Pope Francis meets Ukraine PM in Rome

Ironically, right on the very eve of the day that will see the canonisation of Polish Pope, John Paul II, his current successor, Francis, today met Ukraine's prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

The meeting with one of the main actors in an ongoing political crisis that looks to have come straight out of the “cold war” days that so marked the pontificate of John Paul II.

A Vatican bulletin said that the Pope and Mr Yatsenyuk had "cordial discussions" on the "current situation" with both men calling for "constructive collaboration" that will guarantee "political and social stability" in Ukraine.

Shortly after his audience with the Pope, Mr Yatsenyuk unexpectedly returned immediately to Ukraine rather than waiting for tomorrow’s canonisation service.

In a series of interviews before returning to his country, however, Mr Yatsenyuk had said that he would be asking Francis to pray for Ukraine, adding: "…Russia is getting ready to start World War Three because it intends to overrun Ukraine, both politically and militarily…"

John Paul II, due to elevated to sainthood along with Pope John XXIII in a Vatican set-piece ceremony tomorrow, is widely perceived as having played a huge role in the downfall of Eastern bloc communism during his pontificate.

Many observers believe that it was the Pope's support for the Polish trade union movement, Solidarnosc, in the 1980s which led to the eventual downfall of communism both in Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Yesterday, Francis was involved in another piece of delicate if less heavyweight diplomacy when he made one of his hallmark phone calls to the ailing Italian radical leader, 83-year-old Marco Panella. Back in the 1970s, Panella was a key figure in the successful campaigns for the legalisation of both divorce (1970) and abortion (1978) in Italy.

Despite that obvious ideological divide, Pope Francis phoned him to urge him to call off one of his habitual hunger strike protests, this time against overcrowded conditions in Italy's prisons.

Friends of Mr Pannella believe that the veteran politician is putting his life at stake with his hunger strike, just days after undergoing an operation for an aneurysm in his aorta.

Media reports claim that the pope spoke to Mr Pannella for 20 minutes yesterday, vowing that he would help his campaign against inhuman prison conditions but calling on the radical leader to abandon his hunger strike. By way of response, Mr. Pannella apparently agreed to drink coffee and to also accept blood transfusions that he had previously refused.

The Holy See yesterday would neither confirm nor deny the phone call to Mr Pannella, pointing out that it is press office policy not to comment on “private” conversations involving the pope.

Earlier this week, the Holy See also refused to comment on another Francis phone call, this time to an Argentine woman married to a divorcee, telling her that despite “living in sin”, she could receive communion “without problems”.