World News | Russia recognizes Vatican peace initiative, says no action yet to go to Moscow

VATICAN CITY, May 26 (AP) Russia said Friday it views Pope Francis’ peace initiative in Ukraine positively, but stressed that the Vatican has no immediate plans to visit Moscow.

The statement by the Russian foreign ministry to Ria Novosti was Moscow’s first public recognition of the pope.

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The Vatican announced over the weekend that Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, a veteran of the Catholic Church’s peaceful mediation initiative, had been appointed by Francis as envoy.

“We recognize the sincere desire of the Holy See to promote the peace process,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, according to RIA Novosti.

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“At the same time, no real steps have been taken on the part of the Vatican to organize a trip to Moscow.”

Zupi told reporters on Thursday that the scope of the mission was to “help de-escalate tensions in the conflict” and that it hoped it would contribute to “the road to peace.”

He likens his efforts in the 1990s with the Rome-based Sant’Egidio Community to help mediate peace talks to end Mozambique’s civil war.

Zupi then noted that the church’s initiative began with the hope of finding a “path to peace” and led to a conference that brought the warring parties closer together, “weaving” bonds between the factions and eventually a peace agreement .

“The (Ukrainian) efforts are certainly in this sense,” Zupi said at the end of the Italian synod. “We’ll see.”

Francis announced the peace mission last month on his way home from Hungary, where he met an envoy from the Russian Orthodox Church, which strongly supports the Kremlin’s war effort.

In the weeks since, Francis has met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican, who made it clear he would not accept territorial concessions and rejected Francis’ reference to victims on both sides of the conflict, saying victims There is no equivalence between the attacker and the aggressor.

Francis’ hopes for peace “brought the Holy Father to tears,” Zuppi noted, referring to Dec. 8, when Francis wept in front of the statue of the Madonna in central Rome, praying for peace in Ukraine. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)