Special envoy of Vatican arrives in Moscow with mission to return Ukrainian children and prisoners

Today, October 14, the special representative of the Vatican, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, began a visit to Moscow as part of the mission entrusted to him by Pope Francis. The main goal is the return of Ukrainian children and prisoners.

This was reported by Vatican News.

Thus, answering the questions of journalists, the director of the press service of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, confirmed that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi began a second visit to Moscow "as part of the mission entrusted to him by Pope Francis last year, to meet with representatives of the authorities and evaluate additional efforts to promote the "unification of Ukrainian children with their relatives and exchange prisoners, with the aim of achieving the long-awaited peace".

Bruni released a statement last year: "I can confirm that Pope Francis has entrusted Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, with the task of carrying out a mission, in agreement with the Secretariat of State, that could contribute to de-escalation of the war in Ukraine, in the hope, which has never faded from the Holy Father, that it will be able to initiate peace processes."

As part of this mission, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi visited Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and Beijing. Also, in August 2024, a telephone conversation took place between the Special Representative of the Chinese government for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, and Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, as the emissary of Pope Francis to search for ways to peace in Ukraine.

"During the telephone conversation, great concern over the situation was expressed and the need to promote dialogue between the parties with appropriate international guarantees to achieve a just and lasting peace was emphasized," the Vatican press service reported at the time.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, during a meeting with Pope Francis in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, Zelenskyy spoke about the death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna in russian captivity and asked to facilitate the return of Ukrainians from russian captivity.

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