Cardinal Zubi in Ukraine explores ways to achieve a just peace

Charlotta Smedes – Vatican City

Cardinal Matteo Zubi started a mission in Kyiv on Monday 5 June with the aim of “easing tensions in the conflict in Ukraine”. The Cardinal, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, will remain in Kiev until Tuesday, June 6. According to a statement from the Holy See, he will be in the Ukrainian capital as “an envoy of Holy Father Francis.”

The same note emphasized that “this is an initiative whose main objective is to listen deeply to the Ukrainian authorities on possible ways to achieve a just peace and to support initiatives that help ease tensions.”

The Vatican press office broke the news of Zubi’s appointment as papal legate on 20 May. The pope himself had earlier spoken of a “peace mission” to the troubled eastern European country. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, went on to explain that this is not a mission that has “mediation as its immediate objective”, but that it aims above all to “try to favor atmospheres, in favor of an environment that can lead to peace”.

Finally, Zubi himself, during the closing press conference of the Permanent Council of the Conference of Italian Bishops, emphasized the aim of his mission and stressed that the Pope was deeply involved during the year-and-a-half conflict in Ukraine.