Special Ambassador Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, has now also made representations to the White House on the war in Ukraine. The President of the Italian Episcopal Conference is also considered “papabile”.
In Kiev and Moscow, Matteo Zuppi presented his message for peace in Ukraine’s war in June. Now, the Cardinal and Special Ambassador of the Vatican, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, has presented representations to the White House. It is about an exchange of opinions and support for humanitarian initiatives, emphasized Zuppi before the meeting with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, on Wednesday night.
Pope Francis announced a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine in April and entrusted Cardinal Zuppi with the delicate task in May. In Kiev, the Pope’s special emissary met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and in Bucha he visited the church where human rights crimes against the civilian population are documented. Shortly afterwards, he met in Moscow with Cyril, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, foreign policy adviser to Vladimir Putin and controversial child rights commissioner Maria Lwova-Belowa, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Zuppi’s stated aim is the repatriation of around 20,000 Ukrainian children who were abducted to Russia.
a papal candidate
Zuppi recently argued that in Ukraine’s war there was an aggressor and an attacked party. “One should not confuse those responsible.” He asked for dialogue, he spoke of the “sensitive fabric of peace”. The Kiev government has reservations about the Vatican mission. Zuppi gained his first merits as a mediator in the civil war in Mozambique. Some in the Vatican predict a great career for the Rome-born great-nephew of a curial cardinal: the 67-year-old is considered a “papabile”, a candidate for pope. (four)