Pope Francis has commissioned Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to carry out a peace mission that "contributes to reducing tensions in the conflict in Ukraine," the Holy See confirmed Saturday in a statement.
"The timelines of that mission and its modality are currently under study," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
The cardinal, archbishop of Bologna (north) and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, received from the pontiff the task of "conducting a mission, in agreement with the Secretariat of State, that contributes to reducing tensions in the conflict in Ukraine."
"In the hope, never abandoned by the Holy Father, that it can begin peace processes," the communique concludes.
This would be the secret mission to which Pope Francis referred on his return from his trip to Hungary and of which until Saturday afternoon the Vatican maintained the maximum silence.
In recent days some media had advanced that Francis intended to send emissaries to Kiev and Moscow in an attempt to mediate to stop the war in Ukraine, although this "double" strategy was not confirmed and only appointed Zuppi.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi. Photo Reuters.
The media had pointed to Zuppi as the emissary addressed to Kiev and to Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, a great connoisseur of these two countries and prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, as the interlocutor with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, Gugerotti denied that information days ago.
Zuppi mediated in 1990 with the Community of Sant'Egidio in the civil war in Mozambique and was also in 2017 at the act of delivery of weapons of the Basque terrorist group ETA in the French town of Bayonne (south).
Francis called on numerous occasions for the beginning of a dialogue to end the war in Ukraine, originated by the invasion of Russia in February 2020.
On May 13, in fact, he openly acknowledged that the neutrality of the Holy See allows it to "contribute better to the resolution of conflicts," in an audience with new diplomats in the Vatican.
Cardinal Zuppi mediated in 1990 with the Community of Sant'Egidio in the civil war in Mozambique.
Precisely that same day he received in the Vatican the president of Ukraine, Volodomir Zelenski.
In the 40-minute meeting, both agreed on "the need to continue humanitarian efforts in support of the population," according to the brief information provided by the Holy See.
In this regard, the pontiff stressed "the urgent need for gestures of humanity towards the most fragile people, innocent victims of the conflict."
Shortly after, Zelenskiy published a message on his much harsher Twitter in which, after thanking the pope for his attention to "the tragedy of millions of Ukrainians," he asked him to "condemn Russian crimes in Ukraine."
"Because," he said, "there can be no equality between the victim and the aggressor," the Ukrainian president reproached.
And he dismissed any peace plan other than his country's: "I have also spoken about our Peace Formula as the only effective algorithm to achieve a just peace. I have proposed to join its implementation," he wrote.
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