Currently, the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference is in Ukraine on behalf of Pope Francis. The outcome of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi’s exploratory talks in Kiev and how things will proceed thereafter is open to question. In any case, the Pope sent an experienced diplomat to the warring country in the form of the Italian cleric.
Pope Francis sent Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to Kiev for two days on a peacekeeping mission. On Monday and Tuesday, the president of…
According to media reports, Cardinal Zuppi visited the town of Bucha, near Kiev, on Monday. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor, Russian troops killed around 400 civilians before leaving in early April 2022. The cardinal visited a church in Bucha on Monday where war crimes are documented, according to the Ukrainian military administration. Kiev. He turned off a grave light at a memorial for the victims.
In Kiev, the papal envoy met with the human rights commissioner of the Ukrainian parliament, Dmytro Lubinets, according to information. Lubinets wrote on Facebook that he had spoken with Zuppi about repatriating Ukrainian children who were kidnapped by Russia during the war. He also reported to the papal emissary about Ukrainian civilians being held captive by Russia, including Catholic clergy.
Lubinets declared that Ukraine must liberate all of its territory. This is the only way to protect your own children. According to Kiev earlier, more than 10,000 Ukrainian children were kidnapped from Russian-controlled areas of the country. The papal ambassador to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, also reportedly attended the meeting.
Patient, listens and is discreet
Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi is a longtime peace activist and member of the Catholic Community of Sant’ Egidio. The experienced diplomat was, among other things, a member of the delegation that restored peace to Mozambique in 1992. His numerous mediation missions have also taken him to Cuba, Guatemala, Kosovo and Burundi. Marco Impagliazzo, President of the Community of Sant’Egidioremember:
“Matteo Zuppi was very involved in the peace process in Burundi alongside Nelson Mandela and Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. He is a man of great patience, who knows how to listen and who is discreet – very important qualities if you want to walk a path of peace ”.
Zuppi’s trip to Kiev is not (yet) a mission to be able to talk about a peace plan. First of all, it aims to understand closely the reality of the war in Ukraine.
On an exploratory mission
“First Cardinal Zuppi will listen, he will listen. Everything else will have to be decided, together with the Holy Father, afterwards”
“First Cardinal Zuppi will listen, he will listen. Everything else will have to be decided, together with the Holy Father, afterwards”. emphasizes the papal nuncio in Kiev, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, in an interview with Vatican Radio. “There’s a whole series of meetings,” she notes, unable to elaborate. Zuppi’s trip to Kiev was “a working mission, an exploratory mission”, the archbishop said. Then you will decide what “emphasis” to place on mediation efforts.
Dramatic situation in Kyiv
Meanwhile, the situation in war-torn Ukraine remains dramatic, reports Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Svyatoslav Shevchuk in your recent video message.
“Not a night goes by without tons of various rocket and drone fragments falling on the heads of Kiev residents, effectively shot down by our anti-aircraft system. But fire, tears and blood are the order of the day in our capital.”
Children, in particular, suffered a lot with the war, recalls the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, referring to the minor victims of the war, and cites an example:
“We were all struck by the photo of the grandfather bending over the body of his dead granddaughter. The girl was nine years old. Born when Russia started attacking Ukraine in Crimea and Donbass, she was killed on Children’s Day. Her mother, 34 was also killed along with her. This Ukrainian child’s pain fills our hearts today”.
Numerous children were also kidnapped to Russia, according to Shevchuk, who speaks of 19,000 children kidnapped, hundreds of schools and educational institutions destroyed.
Zuppi in Moscow too?
The investigative mission of Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi may continue in Moscow, although the date of the visit to the Russian capital has not yet been confirmed. However, the Kremlin has already signaled an agreement to receive the cardinal.
– updated 11:20 am: Zuppi meetings in Kiev and Bucha –
(Vatican news – pr)