“We have opened a channel of dialogue, and this was not a given,” said Moscow Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, commenting on the visit of Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to Moscow on behalf of the Pope’s peace efforts.
Sant’Egidio Community head Marco Impagliazzo recommended to have “patience” as “peace is not bought at the supermarket.”
Referring to today’s second meeting between Zuppi and Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, Impagliazzo said: “The meeting with the diplomatic adviser repeated this morning is something very important, we know how in the presidential administration there are people who are in close contact with President Vladimir Putin,” Impagliazzo told Italian television channel Raitre. More generally, he added, “it is news, a fact, that a great personality of the Catholic Church was received at this level in Moscow and was able to bring the Pope’s request to be able to open humanitarian channels for children and prisoners.” In addition to his meetings with Ushakov, Zuppi met with Maria Lvova-Belova, Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
Impagliazzo also emphasized the importance of the meeting between Zuppi and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia “after months and months of coldness because of some misunderstandings and some statements by Pope Francis that had irritated Kirill and that seem to be dissolved by this meeting. This long dialogue will have meaning and will have consequences that we will see in time.”
