2023-06-05 16:48:44
Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, entrusted by Pope Francis with a peace mission in Ukraine, will be in kyiv Monday and Tuesday to meet with the authorities of that country, the Vatican announced.
Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, is traveling “as an envoy of Pope Francis,” according to a statement.
“The main objective of this initiative is to listen carefully to the Ukrainian authorities regarding the possible means of reaching a just peace and to support humanitarian gestures that contribute to easing tensions,” the text specifies.
Two weeks ago, Pope Francis entrusted a peace mission in Ukraine to Monsignor Zuppi, the 67-year-old Archbishop of Bologna known for his work in the service of diplomacy.
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Francisco asked Zuppi “to help resolve the tensions in the conflict in Ukraine, with the hope that the Holy Father has never given up that he can open paths of peace”, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said at the time.
The Archbishop of Bologna He is known for being “a street priest”, since his work within the church has focused on helping the poorest and migrants, work that he has not stopped doing even when he was elected cardinal.
In 1992 he participated in the peace agreements in Mozambique, and in Guatemala in the mid-1990s, and for his collaboration with Nelson Madela in order to seek a ceasefire in Burundi in 2003, precedents that today put him in charge of one of the most complex missions since he began his service to the church.
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