War in Ukraine: Pope entrusts peace mission to cardinal

Pope Francis has entrusted a peace mission in Ukraine to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian episcopal conference and from the Sant'Egidio community known for his work in the service of diplomacy, the Vatican said Saturday, May 20.

He asked Cardinal Zuppi "to help resolve tensions in the conflict in Ukraine, with the hope that the Holy Father has never renounced, that this can open paths of peace," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. "The timing of this mission and its modalities are being studied," he added in a statement. The pope prays for the victims of the war in Ukraine almost every week during his general audience.

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Last month, at a press conference on his return from Hungary, he spoke about the mission for the first time, saying he was ready to do whatever was necessary for peace in Ukraine, adding: "A mission is underway, but it is not yet public."

Archbishop Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, 67, has presided over the Italian bishops' conference since last year. He was made a cardinal in the title of the Community of Sant'Egidio. Nicknamed "the little UN of Trastevere", the name of the Roman quarter where it is located, this community of lay Catholics, born in 1968, had as its initial mission the help of the poor and the excluded. It burst onto the international scene with the signing in 1992 of a peace agreement in Mozambique, in which "men of good will" from Trastevere, including Matteo Zuppi, played a leading role.