The Pope has made it clear that pursuing peace is a top priority.

Meanwhile, Vatican officials are working tirelessly to promote peace through various channels.

"I encourage faithful to take only one side in this conflict, the side of peace" Francis said during his weekly audience on October 18.

Vatican diplomats have aligned with international voices in urging a renewed pursuit of a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

They are advocating for the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside security assurances for Israel. This is a stance consistent with the Holy See's position since 2013.

Pope Francis also urged the faithful to support the cause of peace. He emphasised the importance of dialogue to end the cycle of violence.

During a visit to a military cemetery on All Souls Day, Francis commented "Wars are always a defeat, always. There is never a total victory. One side wins over the other. But behind that, there is always defeat in the price that has to be paid."

Francis has also called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the creation of humanitarian corridors to help relieve the suffering of its besieged inhabitants.

Serious concern

Meanwhile, Vatican diplomats have engaged with world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to promote this message of peace.

The Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, expressed serious concern to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian about the situation in Israel and Palestine.

In response to the conflict in Ukraine, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna, as his personal peace envoy.

It remains unclear whether the pope will appoint another envoy for the Mideast. However, Zuppi has weighed in on the hostilities in Gaza. He underlined the need "for an authoritative Palestinian leadership that is capable of defending its people."

Francis admitted to Italian news channel TG1 that, without paths for dialogue, "the war in the Holy Land scares me" and talked about his concerns for an escalation of the conflict.

"The time is very dark" he said. "We can't seem to find the ability to think clearly and I will add that it's a further defeat. It's been this way since the last world war, from 1945 until now, one defeat after the other because wars never stopped."

Sources

Religion News Service

Reuters

Zuppi was in Washington DC from July 17-19 along with an unnamed representative of the Vatican's Secretariat of State to "continue the mission entrusted to him by Pope Francis and, in this context, to meet with the President of the United States, Joseph Biden," according to a July 19 Vatican statement.

It marked the third stage in Zuppi's mission as the pope's special envoy on Ukraine, following a visit to Kyiv in early June, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top-level church and government leaders, and to Moscow in late June, where he members of Russia's foreign ministry as well as Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, but did not meet with President Vladimir Putin.

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"The tragic reality of this war that seems to have no end, demands of everyone a common creative effort to imagine and forge paths of peace," the pope told a delegation from the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis has consistently called for an end to the hostilities, denouncing the destruction of Ukrainian communities, the loss of thousands of lives and the displacement of millions. Ukraine was also the biggest beneficiary of the papal charity Peter's Pence in 2022.

In May, the pope appointed Zuppi as his peace envoy. The cardinal recently held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during his visit to Kyiv.

A Vatican statement said Zuppi's consultations in Moscow included meetings with Yuri Ushakov, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin, and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church.

"(The visit was) aimed at identifying humanitarian initiatives which could open roads to peace," the statement said. It added that further steps would be taken, but gave no details.

Zuppi and Kirill discussed collaborating on a peaceful resolution to the war and the possibility of a future meeting between Pope Francis and the patriarch. Their meeting was deemed fruitful and focused primarily on promoting humanitarian initiatives.

Addressing the challenges in the relationship between Russia and the West, Kirill stressed the importance of preventing a large-scale armed conflict. He called on all parties involved to work together for peace and justice.

"I believe that in the current conditions, marked by great risks and dangers, the church can, through joined efforts, prevent the negative development of the political circumstances," Kirill said at the meeting, according to a statement.

Papal visit to Moscow would be unprecedented

While it may be premature to expect a visit from Pope Francis to Moscow, Vatican diplomacy expert Victor Gaetan noted the pope's desire to make an official trip to Russia, which would be unprecedented.

"The meeting between Kirill and Zuppi at this time is a symbol that the two lungs of the church, the Catholic and Orthodox are healthy and may also be a prelude to Pope Francis meeting with Kirill," Gaetan said.

According to Gaetan, the Vatican mission is also aimed at sending a message to the international community. "I read Cardinal Zuppi's very public trip as a lecture Pope Francis is delivering to NATO countries: No diplomacy is possible without direct personal encounter," he said.

During Zuppi's visit, the cardinal also met with Russian officials to discuss humanitarian issues in Ukraine, particularly the well-being of displaced minors.

The results of Zuppi's mission will be presented to Pope Francis to determine future steps and humanitarian initiatives.

Sources

US News & World Report

Religion News Service

America Magazine

CathNews New Zealand

Speaking to journalists on the margins of a June 7 book presentation the day after returning from Kyiv, Zuppi said the Vatican's objective for the visit was "not a mediation," but rather "expressing interest, closeness, listening so that the conflict can find paths to peace."

"The rest are expectations or speculations that some have," he said.

Zuppi's effort to distance the Vatican from a "mediator" role may have been an attempt to defuse Ukrainian sensitivities.

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He expressed surprise that officials in both countries claimed ignorance of the Vatican's plan.

"Based on my knowledge, they know, but you know how it is, in bureaucracies, it could be that communications that are supposed to arrive don't arrive," Parolin was quoted as saying.

"These are just my interpretations, but I know that both parties were informed."

Ukraine and Russia have denied any knowledge of the claim made by Pope Francis that the Vatican is involved in a secret peace plan to end the conflict between the two countries.

Their denial follows Francis, Monday, revealing a secret peace "mission" in Russia's war in Ukraine was underway.

He also said the Vatican is willing to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war.

"I'm available to do anything," Francis said during an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary. "There's a mission that's not public that's underway; when it's public, I'll talk about it."

Asked by reporters on May 2 if the Russian government was aware of a Vatican-led plan referenced by Pope Francis to advance the peace process in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded: "No, nothing is known," Russian state media reported.

According to CNN, the Ukrainian government also denied engaging with the Vatican in peace talks.

"President Zelenskyy has not consented to any such discussions on Ukraine's behalf," CNN reported a source close to the Ukrainian president saying, "If talks are happening, they are happening without our knowledge or our blessing."

Francis gave no details when asked whether he spoke about peace initiatives during his talks in Budapest this weekend with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary.

Francis asked to help return Ukrainian children

Last week Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met with Francis at the Vatican and asked him to help return Ukrainian children taken following the Russian invasion.

"I asked His Holiness to help us return home Ukrainians, Ukrainian children who are detained, arrested and criminally deported to Russia,″ Shmyhal told the Foreign Press Association after the audience.

Francis recalled that the Holy See had facilitated some prisoner exchanges, working through embassies, and was open to Ukraine's request to reunite Ukrainian children with their families.

The prisoner exchanges "went well. I think it could go well also for this. It's important," he said of the family reunifications. "The Holy See is available to do it because it's the right thing," he added. "We have to do all that is humanly possible."

Deportations of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Francis said the Holy See had already helped mediate some prisoner exchanges.

"All human gestures help. Gestures of cruelty don't help," Francis said.

Sources

Associated Press

AP News

UCA News

CNN