The peace mission starts in Ukraine by Pope Francis. The cardinal Matthew Maria Zuppi, the brilliant president of the Italian Bishops' Conference and archbishop of Bologna who was chosen by the Pope to seek a way to ease tensions in the conflict in Ukraine, began his very difficult mission today from Kiev.
“It is an initiative whose main purpose is to listen in depth to the Ukrainian authorities about the possible ways to reach one just peace and support gestures of humanity that contribute to relieve tension” says a statement from the Press Office of the Holy See. Pietro Parolin, the cardinal secretary of state, specified that the one entrusted to the president of the CEI is not a mission that has "mediation as its immediate purpose", but was commissioned by the Pope to "ease tensions in the conflict in Ukraine". The goal is "to try above all to favor the climate, to favor an environment that can lead to paths of peace".
The stage in Moscow is uncertain
The press office announced that at the moment, the cardinal is not planning a visit to Moscow. But the Russian agency Tass, quoting an "informed source in the Vatican" instead said that the visit to Moscow "is being prepared", added the source, without however citing a possible date. This morning, Kremlin spokesman Dmity Peskov said that a meeting between the Russian president and the Pope's envoy is not on the agenda.
The cardinal recalled that "Kiev would not currently be willing to mediate in the strict sense of the term. However, this mission has the function of creating a climate of mediation and helping to move towards a peaceful solution".
Zuppi had successfully managed the mediation in Mozambique
The harmony between Pope Francis and Zuppi is very strong. Bergoglio also appointed him judge of the Court of Cassation of the Vatican City State together with two other Italian cardinals whom he greatly esteemed: Augusto Paolo Lojudice, archbishop of Siena-Colle di Val d'Elsa-Montalcino and bishop of Montepulciano-Chiusi- Pienza, and Mauro Gambetti, the Pope's vicar general for the Vatican City.
Cardinal Zuppi is a leading figure in the Community of Sant'Egidio, founded by Andrea Riccardi and chaired by Marco Impagliazzo. Always close to the poor, Zuppi was a man of mediation and peace, a very authoritative personality with pastoral sensibilities very similar to those of Bergoglio. In 1990 Riccardi and Zuppi played the role of mediators in the negotiations between the government of Mozambique, at the time controlled by the socialists of the Mozambique Liberation Front, and the Mozambican National Resistance party, engaged since 1975 in a bloody civil war. The mediation led, on October 4, 1992, on the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, after twenty-seven months of negotiations, to the signing of the Rome peace accords which sanctioned the end of hostilities. For this reason, the Community of Sant'Egidio is also called the UN of Trastevere, the district in the heart of Rome where it was born and where it has its main office.
