Vatican has no plan for peace talks on Ukraine – papal envoy

Admin I Monday, July 03, 2023

 

ROME – The Vatican so far has no plan that will help begin peace talks on Ukraine but is focused on humanitarian initiatives, papal peace envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who visited Moscow said on Sunday.

“In the coming days, under the supervision of Pope Francis and together with him we will be thinking over what we heard [in Moscow].

That is why, so far we have no plan that could promote the beginning of talks. We are focused on humanitarian matters and the protection of lives of innocent people,” the Il Resto del Carlino newspaper quoted him as saying.

“There is neither a peace plan or mediation, there is a striving to stop violence.”

Cardinal Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Bologna, visited Moscow on June 28-29.

He met with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, presidential foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov, and children’s rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova.

According to the press office of the Holy See, the main purpose of the papal envoy’s visit was “to encourage humanitarian gestures, which can contribute to facilitating a solution to the current tragic situation and find ways to achieve a just peace.”

In early June, Cardinal Zuppi visited Kiev where he met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and religious leaders.