Cardinal Zuppi and Chinese government representative discuss War in Ukraine

By Vatican News

The Holy See Press Office confirmed on Thursday that yesterday morning, Wednesday, 14 August, "a cordial conversation" took place between Li Hui, Special Representative of the Chinese Government for Eurasian Affairs, and Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, whom the Pope entrusted with a peace mission last year,  ‘within the framework of the mission entrusted to the Cardinal by Pope Francis for peace in Ukraine, and following the meeting in Beijing last September’.

"During the phone call", the statement read, "great concern was expressed about the situation and the need to foster dialogue between the Parties, with adequate international guarantees for a just and lasting peace".

Mission to pursue peaceful solutions

Cardinal Zuppi had been sent in 2023 by Pope Francis with the aim of contributing to "easing the tensions in the conflict in Ukraine, in the hope, which the Holy Father has never given up, that this could start paths of peace".

Between June and July, the President of the Italian Bishops' Conference travelled to Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington, where he met with political and Church representatives.

In September 2023, Cardinal Zuppi travelled to Beijing, where he had talks with Li Hui and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China on the war in Ukraine and the need to unite efforts to foster dialogue and find paths to peace.

Blessed Mother accompanies the suffering

In an editorial published in the daily newspaper Avvenire on 15 August, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, the Cardinal dwelt on today's wounds in the world, a suffering, he suggested, that the Virgin Mary knows.

"The Mother knows pain and her pain makes us understand that of those who are suffering", he stressed, observing that today, on the Solemnity of the Blessed Mother, "there is always Mater Dolorosa [Mary, Mother of Sorrows] with the ‘seven swords’ that pierce her heart".

As the Cardinal appealed for overcoming divisions and pursuing peace, he observed how many images there are of Our Lady Mater Dolorosa in our countries.

"In particular", Cardinal Zuppi noted, "she is in Europe, in Russia and Ukraine, in the Holy Land, in the Middle East, in Africa and wherever in the world guilty wars are ignited and innocent victims fall".