The Vatican has reiterated its commitment to continuing its humanitarian work to secure the release of captured Ukrainian minors, military personnel, and civilians. Source: Vatican News.
At the Ministerial Conference on the Human Dimension of Ukraine’s Peace Formula Conference in Montreal, Canada, Archbishop Paul Gallagher said “unfortunately, the results have not met expectations” perhaps because the entrusted cases “are more complicated”.
This conference is the second international summit on the peace formula proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; the first summit was in Switzerland last June. The two-day event (October 30-31) focused on “Proposal Number 4” of the 10 points that make up the formula: the “release of all prisoners and deportees”. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this is the mission the Holy See has undertaken, “welcoming,” the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States noted, “the repeated requests of Ukrainian authorities”.
President Zelensky first appealed to the diplomatic network of the Holy See regarding the release of more than 19,000 Ukrainian minors forcibly taken to Russia and the exchange of prisoners. The process has led to concrete results, such as the release of two Ukrainian Redemptorists on June 29 this year and the return of a group of minors. Mr Zelensky reiterated his request for the Pope’s help during an audience – his third in the Vatican – on October 11.
This type of humanitarian assistance was “the primary objective of Cardinal Zuppi’s mission to Kyiv and Moscow,” Archbishop Gallagher said, referring to the visit Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, made to Ukraine and Russia in 2023 (with stops in the US and China) as the Pope’s emissary to find paths to a “just peace” for the “martyred” country. Cardinal Zuppi returned to Moscow on October 14 and 15.
This mission, Archbishop Gallagher emphasised, “has led to the creation of a framework for the repatriation of children and the regular exchange of information between the two parties. This also included online meetings with the participation of the apostolic nuncios in both countries”, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas in Ukraine and Archbishop Giovanni d’Aniello in Russia.
Archbishop Gallagher said “the direct contact between the parties, especially with the presence of the two apostolic nuncios, is helpful in facilitating dialogue.” In particular, he said, Archbishop Kulbokas “has identified the Catholic institutions ready to welcome families with repatriated minors.” Meanwhile, “the Holy See reiterates its requests for new lists of children.” He stressed that the Vatican has “also forwarded thousands of names of prisoners, calling for their exchange and release.
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Vatican committed to return of Ukrainian minors and prisoners (By Salvatore Cernuzio, Vatican News)
