VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis' special envoy went to Washington to explore what the Vatican's role could be in bringing about an end of hostilities in Ukraine, said the president of the U.S. bishops' conference.
Discussing Cardinal Matteo Zuppi's July 17-19 trip to the U.S. capital, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of Military Services said the cardinal talked about humanitarian responses and avenues toward ending hostilities in Ukraine in his July 18 meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.
In an interview with Vatican News published July 20, Archbishop Broglio stressed that the purpose of Cardinal Zuppi's meeting was "certainly not mediation, but an opportunity to see what the Holy See could do to help in an eventual end of hostilities in Ukraine," yet he noted that "at the present time that seems somewhat unrealistic."
"The church is concentrating on what we do best, which of course is humanitarian assistance, so that was the primary focus of Cardinal Zuppi's intervention," he said.
The cardinal and the president met for more than an hour at the White House, which Archbishop Broglio said "gives an indication of how much importance the president of the United States attributed to the gesture on the part of Pope Francis to send the cardinal to the United States."
While in the United States, the cardinal also met with Archbishop Broglio, members of the U.S. Helsinki Commission and the Senate Prayer Breakfast.
Cardinal Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian bishops' conference, hand-delivered a letter from Pope Francis to President Biden during their meeting, the Vatican said in a July 19 statement.
A July 18 White House readout said the two "discussed the Holy See's efforts providing humanitarian aid to address the widespread suffering caused by Russia's continuing aggression in Ukraine, as well as the Vatican's advocacy for the return of forcibly deported Ukrainian children."
President Biden also "shared his wishes for Pope Francis' continued ministry and global leadership and welcomed the recent nomination of a U.S. archbishop as cardinal," the statement said, referring to Chicago-born Cardinal-designate Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
Archbishop Broglio told Vatican News that U.S. Catholics have shown a "tremendous" response to the war by sending humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and organizing prayer initiatives throughout the country.
He also said he was "concerned" about U.S. cluster bombs being sent to Ukraine which he said are "indiscriminate in the victims" they create, noting that "any escalation (of the war) is going to be dangerous."
"There's always a danger in war that the innocent will be injured or will be harmed or can even lose their lives (on) the peripheries of a military action, and that certainly should always be avoided," he said.
Cluster bombs refer to munitions that release smaller explosives across a wide area while in the air, making them less precise in their targeting. The Pentagon confirmed that U.S.-provided cluster bombs arrived in Ukraine July 13 and they have since been used in combat.
Archbishop Broglio expressed his gratitude for Pope Francis doing everything he can to "echo the message of peace, which is really the message of our Savior."
"I'm very grateful for this gesture," he said.
— Justin McLellan, Catholic News Service
Papal envoy gives Biden letter from pope, urges U.S. leaders to support peace
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Papal envoy gives Biden letter from pope, urges U.S. leaders to support peace
VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Matteo Zuppi hand-delivered a letter from Pope Francis to U.S. President Joe Biden as part of his three-day papal mission to help promote humanitarian efforts and open avenues of peace in Ukraine.
The pope had sent the cardinal, who is archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian bishops' conference, to Washington July 17-19 for meetings with top church and government leaders, including members of the U.S. Helsinki Commission and the Senate Prayer Breakfast.
Cardinal Zuppi and other members of a Vatican delegation went to the White House July 18 "where they were received by President Joseph R. Biden, to whom Cardinal Zuppi delivered a letter from the Holy Father, emphasizing the pope's sorrow for the suffering caused by the war," said a Vatican communique published July 19.
"The meeting, which began shortly after 5 p.m. and lasted over an hour, took place in an atmosphere of great cordiality and mutual listening," it said.
During the conversation, assurance was made of there being a "full willingness to support humanitarian initiatives, especially for children and those who are most fragile, both to respond to this urgency and to foster paths of peace," the Vatican said.
Early July 19, the Vatican delegation attended the Senate Prayer Breakfast, which is held Wednesday mornings in the U.S. Capitol for senators to meet, talk and pray together.
During this gathering, the Vatican said, "Cardinal Zuppi had the opportunity to brief the participants on the meetings he had over the various stages of his peace mission. During the meeting, appreciation was expressed for the Holy See's efforts and the responsibility of each individual to strive for peace was emphasized."
He also traveled to Russia and Ukraine in recent months to meet with church and government officials on the pope's behalf.
Cardinal Zuppi arrived in Washington the evening of July 17 and had a meeting with USCCB President Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of Military Services at the apostolic nunciature.
"Some reflections were exchanged on the war in Ukraine and the Holy See's initiatives in support of victims and peace" during that meeting, the Vatican said.
The next morning the Vatican delegation went to the Rayburn House Office Building and met with some members of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission. This independent U.S. government commission seeks to promote human rights, military security and economic cooperation in 57 countries in Europe, Eurasia and North America.
The Vatican delegation, which included Cardinal-designate Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, and Msgr. Séamus P. Horgan, charge d'affaires at the apostolic nunciature, presented to the commission "the nature and conduct of the mission entrusted to it by the pope, reflecting together on ways in which it could be made more effective."
According to Cardinal-designate Pierre, the top priority for Cardinal Zuppi in his meeting with President Biden was the repatriation of children forcibly deported from Ukraine to Russia.
The overall objective of that closed-door meeting, he told the Italian daily, La Repubblica, was "to contribute to peace and more precisely to cover the humanitarian aspects, in particular concerning children. The discussion revolved around this."
When asked if this meant that the immediate goal was facilitating the reunification of Ukrainian children with their families, the cardinal-designate said, "Yes, that is the cardinal's, and obviously the pope's, more specific goal, also because it is a more concrete issue."
"Obviously, however, the idea is to think about peace, in the complicated context that exists," he said in the interview with the newspaper, published in Italian July 19.
"The cardinal is very realistic, we try to do what is possible," Cardinal-designate Pierre said.
In general, Cardinal Zuppi's mission was "to listen and be listened to. To report on what has already happened in order to see how one can proceed," the papal nuncio said.
"This is a first step. We are realists, we know perfectly well that this is not easy. But the pope wants to contribute to (bringing) attention to a situation that will in any case have to reach an outcome," Cardinal-designate Pierre said.
Meanwhile, the White House said in a statement July 18 that President Biden shared with Cardinal Zuppi "his wishes for Pope Francis' continued ministry and global leadership and welcomed the recent nomination of a U.S. archbishop as cardinal," referring to Chicago-born Cardinal-designate Robert F. Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
The U.S. president and Cardinal Zuppi "also discussed the Holy See's efforts providing humanitarian aid to address the widespread suffering caused by Russia's continuing aggression in Ukraine, as well as the Vatican's advocacy for the return of forcibly deported Ukrainian children," the White House statement said.
Pope Francis had sent Cardinal Zuppi to Washington as part of his ongoing humanitarian efforts to help Ukraine.
The July 17-19 visit is "in the context of the mission intended to promote peace in Ukraine and aims to exchange ideas and opinions on the current tragic situation and to support humanitarian initiatives to alleviate the suffering of the most affected and fragile people, especially children," the Vatican said in a communique July 17.
The cardinal visited Bucha and Kyiv in early June and met with Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In Moscow in late June, he met with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow; Yury Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy adviser and former ambassador to the United States; and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, accused by the International Criminal Court of aiding the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Cardinal Zuppi had told reporters at a book presentation in Rome July 4 that the Vatican was working on a "mechanism" to help Ukrainian children that have been taken into Russia, Vatican News reported.
"The children should be able to return to Ukraine," he said. "The first step is verifying the children and then seeing how to return them, starting with the most fragile."
"There is no peace plan (or) mediation," he said, "there is a great aspiration that the violence ends, that human lives can be saved starting with the defense of the youngest."
The cardinal said July 2 that Pope Francis' concern is to "create all opportunities to see, to listen and encourage everything that can lead toward a resolution to the conflict."
"Of course there are small openings, we must look for them," he said. "It is precisely in the darkness that the light of peace must be sought while knowing no one has a magic wand."
— Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service
Biden discusses war, humanitarian concerns in Ukraine with Pope Francis' envoy
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Biden discusses war, humanitarian concerns in Ukraine with Pope Francis' envoy
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden met July 18 with Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Pope Francis' special envoy, to seek a peaceful resolution to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Cardinal Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, Italy, and president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, was being accompanied by an official from the Vatican's Secretariat of State, the Vatican said. His visit to Washington follows previous visits to Kyiv and Moscow as a special envoy on behalf of the Holy See.
A White House readout of the closed-press meeting said Biden "shared his wishes for Pope Francis's continued ministry and global leadership and welcomed the recent nomination of a U.S. archbishop as cardinal."
"They also discussed the Holy See's efforts providing humanitarian aid to address the widespread suffering caused by Russia's continuing aggression in Ukraine, as well as the Vatican's advocacy for the return of forcibly deported Ukrainian children," the readout said.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a July 17 press briefing that Cardinal Zuppi "is coming at the specific request and as an envoy of the pope to have discussions here about the war in Ukraine, about -- specifically about humanitarian concerns in Ukraine."
Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia told OSV News July 18, "I hope and pray that Cardinal Zuppi's conversations in Washington will promote and contribute to a just peace and convince (Russia's President Vladimir) Putin to stop the invasion and pull back his army from the occupied territory."
"However, I fear that attitudes in Moscow are intransigent and even worse, genocidal," Archbishop Gudziak said.
According to Ukraine's government, Russia has forcibly deported close to 19,600 Ukrainian children, in violation of Article II(e) of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Of those, 494 have been killed and only 358 returned to date.
An investigation published July 17 by The Telegraph revealed approximately 2,150 Ukrainian children are currently in "re-education" camps in Belarus, Russia's ally, subject to beatings and Russian indoctrination, with some children trained to use weapons.
In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and his commissioner for children's rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
The ICC charged the two with the war crimes of "unlawful deportation" and "unlawful transfer" of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
The crimes were allegedly committed in occupied Ukrainian territory since Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, continuing attacks it had begun in 2014 with the attempted annexation of Crimea and the backing of separatists in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
According to Ukraine government officials, more than 98,600 war crimes by Russian forces have been documented in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Ukraine has filed charges of genocide by Russia with the International Court of Justice.
"Having spent a couple of weeks in Ukraine and having spoken with wounded soldiers, widows, and internally displaced persons, I can state that Ukrainians are grateful to President Biden and the people of America for their prayers, accurate information on the war, and aid -- humanitarian, economic, and defensive," Archbishop Gudziak said. "The humanitarian efforts conducted by the Holy See at the request of Pope Francis are critically important."
"Nobody wants peace more than the people of Ukraine," he said. "They are paying the greatest price for defending world peace, justice and international order."
Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Zuppi in June as his envoy to promote peaceful dialogue amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The Holy See Press Office said in a statement that Cardinal Zuppi's visit to Washington will "promote peace in Ukraine."
"It seeks to facilitate the exchange of ideas and opinions regarding the current tragic situation, as well as to provide support for humanitarian initiatives aimed at alleviating the suffering of the most vulnerable people, particularly children," the statement said.
— Kate Scanlon, Gina Christian OSV News
Biden discusses war, humanitarian concerns in Ukraine with Pope Francis' envoy
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Biden discusses war, humanitarian concerns in Ukraine with Pope Francis' envoy
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden met July 18 with Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Pope Francis' special envoy, to seek a peaceful resolution to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Cardinal Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, Italy, and president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, was being accompanied by an official from the Vatican's Secretariat of State, the Vatican said. His visit to Washington follows previous visits to Kyiv and Moscow as a special envoy on behalf of the Holy See.
A White House readout of the closed-press meeting said Biden "shared his wishes for Pope Francis's continued ministry and global leadership and welcomed the recent nomination of a U.S. archbishop as cardinal."
"They also discussed the Holy See's efforts providing humanitarian aid to address the widespread suffering caused by Russia's continuing aggression in Ukraine, as well as the Vatican's advocacy for the return of forcibly deported Ukrainian children," the readout said.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a July 17 press briefing that Cardinal Zuppi "is coming at the specific request and as an envoy of the pope to have discussions here about the war in Ukraine, about -- specifically about humanitarian concerns in Ukraine."
Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia told OSV News July 18, "I hope and pray that Cardinal Zuppi's conversations in Washington will promote and contribute to a just peace and convince (Russia's President Vladimir) Putin to stop the invasion and pull back his army from the occupied territory."
"However, I fear that attitudes in Moscow are intransigent and even worse, genocidal," Archbishop Gudziak said.
According to Ukraine's government, Russia has forcibly deported close to 19,600 Ukrainian children, in violation of Article II(e) of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Of those, 494 have been killed and only 358 returned to date.
An investigation published July 17 by The Telegraph revealed approximately 2,150 Ukrainian children are currently in "re-education" camps in Belarus, Russia's ally, subject to beatings and Russian indoctrination, with some children trained to use weapons.
In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and his commissioner for children's rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
The ICC charged the two with the war crimes of "unlawful deportation" and "unlawful transfer" of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
The crimes were allegedly committed in occupied Ukrainian territory since Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, continuing attacks it had begun in 2014 with the attempted annexation of Crimea and the backing of separatists in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
According to Ukraine government officials, more than 98,600 war crimes by Russian forces have been documented in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Ukraine has filed charges of genocide by Russia with the International Court of Justice.
"Having spent a couple of weeks in Ukraine and having spoken with wounded soldiers, widows, and internally displaced persons, I can state that Ukrainians are grateful to President Biden and the people of America for their prayers, accurate information on the war, and aid -- humanitarian, economic, and defensive," Archbishop Gudziak said. "The humanitarian efforts conducted by the Holy See at the request of Pope Francis are critically important."
"Nobody wants peace more than the people of Ukraine," he said. "They are paying the greatest price for defending world peace, justice and international order."
Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Zuppi in June as his envoy to promote peaceful dialogue amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The Holy See Press Office said in a statement that Cardinal Zuppi's visit to Washington will "promote peace in Ukraine."
"It seeks to facilitate the exchange of ideas and opinions regarding the current tragic situation, as well as to provide support for humanitarian initiatives aimed at alleviating the suffering of the most vulnerable people, particularly children," the statement said.
— Kate Scanlon, Gina Christian OSV News