Pope Francis’ Ukraine peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, is heading to China on the fourth leg of a mission that has already brought him to Kyiv, Moscow and Washington, the Vatican said Tuesday.
The essential aim of the shuttle diplomacy is to assist return Ukrainian children taken to Russia after the invasion.
Zuppi, accompanied by an official from the Vatican secretariat of state, can be in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday. The Vatican described the visit as a “further step within the mission desired by the pope to support humanitarian initiatives and the seek for paths that may bring a couple of just peace.”
Francis tapped Zuppi, a veteran of the Catholic Church’s peace diplomacy, in May as his envoy, aiming to “initiate paths of peace.” Over time, Zuppi’s mission has focused on the humanitarian front and particularly in trying to determine a mechanism to assist Ukrainian children who were moved to Russia following the invasion which began in Feb. 2022.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in late March for Russia’s minister for youngsters’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine. Russian officials have denied any forced adoptions, saying some Ukrainian children are in foster care.
No details of Zuppi’s work have emerged, though Francis has said he imagined the Vatican could play a task because it has in some prisoner swaps. Zuppi has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Lvova-Belova and other top advisers to Putin, and President Joe Biden.
“The hope is to push and weave the difficult web of peace,” Zuppi told the broadcaster of the Italian bishops conference, which he heads, before leaving.
Recently, Francis made a powerful public overture to China while visiting neighboring Mongolia, again voicing his esteem for the Chinese people and hopes for constructive dialogue on church matters with Beijing. He also has won praise from Russia for recent comments extolling “Great Mother Russia” — comments that angered Ukraine and its Greek Catholic bishops.
