Pope Francis has sent Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi on a two-day peace mission to Kyiv to sound out government authorities in a bid to help end the war in Ukraine. The Vatican announced Cardinal Zuppi’s visit in a short statement this Monday, which many observers see as an uphill effort to get peace negotiations started.
The Holy See says the main purpose of the two-day visit is “to listen carefully to Ukrainian authorities on the possible ways to reach a just peace and support humanitarian gestures that may help ease tensions”.
It is not clear if Zuppi – who is the Archbishop of Bologna and head of the Italian Bishops Conference – will meet President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky met the Pope at the Vatican on 13 May and later appeared cool to the prospects of any papal initiative that would put Ukraine on an equal footing with Russia, which invaded its neighbour on 24 February 2022.
Last month, Zuppi told reporters that he did not foresee a mediation in the strict sense of the word but that he was ready to “do anything” to help ease tensions.
Credit: rfi
