Ukrainian Invasion of Kursk: Vatican Steps Up Peace Dialog with Beijing
The Holy See and China have expressed great concern over the recent escalation of the conflict, which has moved to Russian soil. Ukraine's parliament is set to finally approve the criticized law that would ban the presence in the country of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate
As fighting continues in Russia’s Kursk region, “a cordial conversation” took place on Wednesday, August 14, between Li Hui, the Chinese government’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, and Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), cardinal and the Pope’s special envoy for peacekeeping missions in Kiev, Moscow, Washington, and Beijing. As announced in a Holy See press release, “during the telephone conversation, great concern was expressed about the current situation and the need to encourage dialog between the parties with adequate international guarantees for a just and lasting peace.”
As the Vatican News website reminds us, Cardinal Zuppi was sent in 2023 by Pope Francis to help “ease tensions in the conflict in Ukraine, in the hope, which the Holy Father has never rejected, that this can begin the path to peace.” Between June and July, CEI’s president traveled to Kiev, Moscow, and Washington, DC, where he met with political and church representatives. Last September, Zuppi traveled to Beijing, where he spoke with Li Hui and leaders of the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the war in Ukraine and “the need to join hands to promote dialog and find paths leading to peace.”
After exchanging views on the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict in an article published in the Avvenire newspaper on Thursday, August 15, the cardinal turned attention to the wounds of today’s world: “A mother knows pain, and her pain makes us realize what happens to those who suffer. The Assumption today is always mater dolorosa with the ‘seven swords’ piercing her heart – how many images of Mary there are in our countries – especially in Russia and Ukraine, in the Holy Land, in the Middle East, in Africa, and everywhere in the world where criminal wars rage and innocent victims fall,” Cardinal Zuppi wrote.
“For a mother, there is no classification of pain, and as the mother of an Israeli hostage still in the hands of Hamas told us, she doesn’t want her pain to cause more pain. I feel the words of the great Patriarch Athenagoras resounding: ‘Sister churches, brother nations.’ But we struggle to see that horizon in the conflicts and hostilities, which seem to be growing, not shrinking. It is also true that the separation of Churches diminishes the brotherhood among nations.”
On August 12, Kiev said that by the end of the month, early September at the latest, the Ukrainian parliament will pass in the second and third reading the law that will finally ban the presence in the country of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate.
