Pope’s special Envoy returns to Italy from three-day visit to Moscow

18 October 2024

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the Pope’s special Envoy, has wrapped up a three-day visit to Moscow after exploring opportunities to continue humanitarian collaboration and seek peace in Ukraine. The announcement was made by the Holy See Press Office on Thursday, 17 October. The Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference was accompanied on his second visit to Moscow by an official from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.

According to a statement, the visit “provided an opportunity to examine some prospects for continuing humanitarian collaboration and opening paths toward the much-desired peace”. Cardinal Zuppi met with several government officials, including Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister; Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy advisor; Marija Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights; and, Tatiana Moskalkova, Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights.

“The discussions allowed for an assessment of the progress made so far in family reunification for minors and the exchange of prisoners, the wounded, and the remains of the fallen”, read the statement from the Holy See Press Office. Cardinal Zuppi also met with Metropolitan Antonij of Volokolamsk, President of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, with whom he spoke about humanitarian issues.