Pope’s Ukraine peace envoy heads to China on mission to help return Ukraine children taken to Russia

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ Ukraine peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, is heading to China on the fourth leg of a mission to return Ukrainian children taken to Russia. He has already been to Kyiv, Moscow and Washington. Zuppi, accompanied by an official from the Vatican secretariat of state, will be in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday. The Vatican described the visit as a “further step in the mission desired by the pope to support humanitarian initiatives.” Zuppi’s mission has concentrated on the humanitarian front and in particular in trying to establish a mechanism to help Ukrainian children who were moved to Russia following the invasion which began in Feb. 2022.