Cardinal Zuppi returns to Moscow as Vatican peace envoy

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), returned to Moscow on Monday to meet with Russian authorities as part of the peace mission entrusted to him by Pope Francis.

The cardinal’s trip to Moscow aims to “evaluate additional efforts to promote the family reunification of Ukrainian children and the exchange of prisoners, with a view to achieving the long-awaited peace,” according to the Vatican.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed on October 14 that the Italian cardinal began a visit to Moscow on Monday, after the Russian Foreign Ministry will publish a photo of the cardinal shaking hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Pope Francis asked Cardinal Zuppi to serve as papal envoy to “initiate paths of peace” between Russia and Ukraine in May 2023.

The cardinal’s visit to Moscow occurs days after Pope Francis will meet with the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenskyin a 35-minute private audience at the Vatican Apostolic Palace on Friday, October 11, this being their third meeting since the start of the war in Ukraine.

This is the second time Cardinal Zuppi has traveled to Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine. He also visited the Russian capital for 48 hours in June 2023, where he discussed humanitarian initiatives with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, as well as government officials, including Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy advisor to President Vladimir Putin.

During his previous trip to Moscow, the cardinal also met with Maria Lvova-Belova, Putin’s commissioner for children’s rights. Vatican News reported that the focus of Zuppi’s meeting with Lvova-Belova was “the issue of the more than 19,000 Ukrainian minors forcibly taken to Russia,” something for which Zelensky has requested the Holy See’s help.

The Vatican media outlet noted that “thanks to the channel opened by Zuppi, a certain number of Ukrainian children taken to Russia by the occupation forces were able to return home.”

While serving as Pope Francis’ peace envoy, Cardinal Zuppi has made several other diplomatic visits around the world to promote peace between Russia and Ukraine, including stops in kyiv, Beijing and Washington DC

The Italian cardinal has strong ties to Sant’Egidio, a Catholic lay association that has been involved in peace negotiations in several countries. However, the Vatican has said that its mission does not have mediation as its immediate objective.

Russia and the Holy See diplomatic relations reestablished full in 2010 after maintaining limited diplomatic relations since 1990.

The day after the full-scale invasion of Russia began, Pope Francis met with the outgoing Russian ambassador, Aleksandr Avdeyev, when the Pope made a rare visit to the Russian embassy on February 25, 2022. The Vatican said that The Pontiff went to the embassy “to show his concern about the war.”

Later, in September 2022, Pope Francis said he was involved in a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, which involved calling Avdeyev “to see if something could be done, if a prisoner exchange could be accelerated.”

Pope Francis has condemned the war and called for peace in Ukraine on numerous occasions, but he has also occasionally received criticism from Ukrainians for the way he has expressed himself. The Vatican clarified in August 2023 that the Pope did not intend to glorify Russian imperialism when he spoke spontaneously during a live video conference with young Russians.

The Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, spoke with the human rights commissioner of RussiaTatiana Moskalkova, via video call on September 16, in which she thanked the Russian ombudsman for her role in the release of two Ukrainian priests, discussed prisoner exchanges and stressed the need to safeguard “fundamental human rights enshrined in the International Conventions.”

At the end of his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis entrusted Ukraine to the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima and appealed for an end to the war.

“I call on Ukrainians not to be left to freeze to death; stop air attacks against the civilian population, always the most affected. “Stop the killing of innocent people!” Pope Francis said on October 13.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.