The Pope’s envoy to mediate in the war in Ukraine, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, is in Washington until Wednesday, after his visits to kyiv and Moscow, the Vatican announced Monday.
The Vatican note states that Zuppi’s trip “is part of the mission to promote peace in Ukraine and aims to exchange ideas and opinions on the current tragic situation, as well as support initiatives in the humanitarian field to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable, affected and debilitated people, especially children”.
The Vatican did not provide the Italian cardinal’s agenda, so it is known if he will be received by the president of the United States, Joe Biden.
Zuppi – who was personally chosen by Pope Francis to try to mediate the Ukrainian war as well as obtain the return of Ukrainian children deported to Russia – has already visited Kiev and Moscow, without results in his mission.
In Moscow, the Italian cardinal – with extensive experience in conflict mediation – met in the Russian capital with the adviser for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Presidency, Yuri Ushakov, and with the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child in Russia, Maria Lvova -Belova.
Zuppi’s visit to Moscow came three weeks after he was in Kiev, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who reiterated his intention not to accept any peace plan that does not involve the withdrawal of Russian forces from his territories. .
Pope Francis has repeatedly called for an end to the war but has refrained from openly criticizing Moscow, in keeping with the Vatican’s tradition of maintaining diplomatic neutrality in conflicts, in the hope that it can play a behind-the-scenes role to forge peace.
Source: TSF
