“The service was attended by the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, who was on a visit to the Vatican on Wednesday”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
At the beginning of the solemn sermon, Cardinal Dzuppi emphasized the urgency of ending the war and establishing a just and lasting peace. According to him, peace and justice are always together, these concepts are inseparable from each other.
“The history of the Ukrainian people during these decades has been beset by great suffering, which you were able to overcome thanks to your great ability to resist. These sufferings are the consequences of the Russian invasion of your country,” Dzuppi said.
Contrasting war with peace, he used the metaphor of dark night and bright day. In his opinion, “the deep night, which is the current war, asks you to believe in the light just when everything around seems dark.”
Read also: The Pope’s envoy arrived in Moscow with a mission to return Ukrainian children and prisoners
Cardinal Dzuppi paid particular attention to Pope Francis’ efforts to end the Russian-Ukrainian war. He added that the pontiff does not tire of seeking “creative peace” and seeks to hasten the day when it arrives.
“He (dad – ed.) believes that in order to achieve peace, one should use wise means of dialogue, but not as a sign of weakness, but to help stop, but not to lose, but to win,” Dzuppi explained during the sermon.
The cardinal repeated the well-known postulates of the Pope during the great Russian aggression: war is always a defeat, peace is never weakness, but always strength. In this connection, the responsibility of the international community for the search for peace in Ukraine was pointed out, namely the role of Europe, “which appeared to consolidate peace, which was unthinkable between peoples who have always been at war.”
Its leader dedicated the final part of the 15-minute sermon to the numerous humanitarian initiatives of the Vatican and Italy to receive children and refugees from Ukraine and noted the great support of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
“I want to remind you that we will not leave you (the people of Ukraine) alone, we will not leave you alone,” Cardinal Matteo Zuppi emphasized during the Mass in Rome.
Read also: He was arrested three times in the USSR. The story of a monk who refused to write denunciations and left the Russian Orthodox Church
He did not communicate with media representatives before the service. And he refused to answer the question of a Radio Liberty correspondent about the new goals of the Vatican’s peacekeeping mission.
The first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, who was on a visit to the Vatican on Wednesday, was present at the service. Also among the guests were numerous representatives of the diplomatic corps of foreign countries in the Vatican and the wives of ambassadors.
Zelenska and the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See, Andriy Yurash, made speeches. The wife of the President of Ukraine thanked Cardinal Dzuppi and all representatives of the Holy See for their spiritual and humanitarian support and assistance in returning Ukrainian prisoners and children home.
On the morning of November 20, the First Lady met with the Pope and visited the Bambino Gesù (Baby Jesus) pediatric hospital. The Vatican-owned medical facility treated more than 2,500 Ukrainian children and their families during the thousand days of full-scale Russian aggression, the hospital’s press service reported.
In May 2023, Pope Francis announced a peacekeeping mission to find ways to end the Russian-Ukrainian war. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi became the papal peace envoy. For this purpose, he made several visits to Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and Beijing. Due to the lack of visible results, the peacekeeping efforts took a back seat, and the leading task of the mission remained its humanitarian component. So, Cardinal Dzuppi is now called a special papal envoy for the return of Ukrainian prisoners and children.