Cardinal Matteo Zuppi will travel to Moscow as an envoy of Pope Francis on Wednesday, following his “peace mission” to Ukraine earlier this month.
The Vatican said that the visit on 28-29 July is to strengthen “gestures of humanity that can contribute to promoting a solution to the current tragic situation and find paths toward a just peace”.
Last week, the Vatican announced that the Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, would make his sixth trip to Ukraine to deliver aid, travelling to the Kherson region devastated by the destruction of the Khakovka dam.
Following Zuppi’s visit to Kyiv, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has said that “a just peace is not a utopia” and that dialogue with Russia would be possible with an “imperative and fundamental” recognition of rights.
Speaking to TV2000, the Italian bishops’ television channel, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said: “What is vital here is that the right to exist of the 40 million Ukrainian people is recognised. If it is recognised, we can reach a dialogue, embark on negotiations and plan our future together.”
In a statement last week, Shevchuk said Zuppi’s mission demonstrated that the “seeming conditional neutrality of the Vatican at the diplomatic level in no way means spiritual moral or pastoral neutrality”. He praised Zuppi’s appreciation of the situation in Ukraine.
“As the cardinal said, it is not about mediation but about a mission of listening to help,” Shevchuk added.
The Vatican’s ambiguous stance on the conflict has prompted severe criticism in Ukraine, where Francis was previously well-regarded, and Cardinal Zuppi’s visit was not universally welcomed.
In another interview last week, Archbishop Shevchuk said that there was a misunderstanding between the Pope and the Ukrainian people about which Ukrainian Catholics “have always been and will be active”.
He insisted that this would not lead people to leave his Church.
“On the contrary, I think that today, as Ukraine, we must realise and understand more and more deeply what function the Pope has in the world and the Church,” he said.
“Any healthy criticism is useful and, interestingly, the Pope allows it and listens to it.”
The Vatican has maintained its diplomatic contacts with Russia via the Moscow patriarchate, which remains supportive of Vladimir Putin’s execution of the war.
On Saturday, as Wagner Group mercenaries staged an abortive mutiny under Yevgeny Prigozhin, Patriarch Kirill urged them “to think again”.
“Today, when our brothers are fighting and dying on the fronts…any attempt to sow discord in our country is the greatest crime, with no justification,” he said in a public message.
He added: “I support the efforts of the head of the Russian state, aimed at not allowing turmoil in our country.”
Earlier this month Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, who heads the patriarchate’s department for external relations, made a diplomatic visit to Rome, including an audience with Pope Francis on 16 June where he conveyed the patriarch’s good wishes and exchanged gifts.
He also held discussions with the Holy See’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and secretary for relations with states, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, and visited the Rome residence of the Sant'Egidio community, with which Cardinal Zuppi is closely associated.
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