Pope entrusts peace mission in Ukraine to an Italian cardinal

RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Pope Francis has tasked a leading Italian cardinal with a mission in hopes it can “ease tensions” in the Ukraine war and lead to a path of peace.

In a brief written statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that Francis had entrusted the mission to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is close to the pontiff.

Bruni said the timetable and the mechanics of the mission “are currently under study.”

Just a week earlier, Francis held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican.

At the end of April, flying back to Rome from a pilgrimage in Hungary, Francis indicated to reporters aboard the plane that the Vatican was involved in some kind of peace mission but declined to give details.

Earlier in the week, an Italian website that focuses on Vatican issues indicated that the pope had tapped personal envoys to talk to both Zelenskyy and Putin in hopes of brokering a cease-fire.

The brief statement Saturday evening by the Vatican made no mention of Russia.

Francis has repeatedly denounced the war, warned against a buildup of weapons in the conflict and prayed for the suffering Ukrainian people. He generally has shied away, in his many comments on the war, from blaming Putin.

The pontiff has said he would go to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, if the pilgrimage would help bring peace, but said that could happen only if he could also visit Moscow.