Cardinal Zuppi begins three-day mission in Russia as papal envoy

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops' Conference and the pope's special envoy for humanitarian affairs, arrived in Russia on Monday for a three-day mission, from September 28 to 30. The talks focus on prisoners of war and on children moved out of their home territories because of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

It is Zuppi's third trip to Moscow. He traveled there in June 2023 and in October 2024. In July he also visited Ukraine, where he went to camps holding Russian prisoners in the Lviv region. He is due to meet Russian officials over the three days, as he confirmed to the TASS news agency.

Zuppi said his humanitarian mission, entrusted to him by Pope Francis and later confirmed by Pope Leo XIV, seeks to help both sides resolve questions involving children, prisoner exchanges and other civilian problems caused by the war. He said they are reviewing every request from the Ukrainian and Russian sides as part of the dialogue already under way.

Zuppi said he wants to keep that dialogue moving forward, adding that he is aware of the suffering the war has caused and wants to help bring it to an end. His visit comes a few weeks after Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, was also in Russia in late August, following his own mission to Ukraine in July.