Cardinal Matteo Zuppi will be Pope Francis' envoy in the peace mission to try to end hostilities in Ukraine. It is a mission that the Pontiff himself had first spoken about on April 30 during a press conference on the plane on his return flight from his trip to Hungary. It was the director of the Holy See's Press Office, Matteo Bruni, who made the official announcement, answering journalists' questions. "I can confirm," these were the words of the Vatican spokesperson, "that Pope Francis has entrusted Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, with the task of leading a mission, in agreement with the Secretariat of State, to help ease tensions in the conflict in Ukraine, in the hope, never resigned by the Holy Father, that this can initiate paths of peace. The timing of such a mission, and its modalities, are currently being studied," Bruni concluded. Zuppi, while not coming from diplomacy, has an extremely interesting resume as a negotiator, having contributed decisively with the Community of Sant'Egidio to peace in Mozambique some 20 years ago. The Community of Trastevere, also called the "parallel diplomacy” of Oltretevere, although it is not mentioned in the papal announcement, will certainly act as a strong support for its formidable relations with Russians, Americans, French, Turks, Germans, Ukrainians. This time, however, the scenario is totally different, much more complex than the African one, and already at the outset the percentage of success is very low.
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