The pope’s Ukraine peace envoy heads to Washington with the plight of children

Pope Francis’ peace envoy was traveling to Washington on Monday as part of the Holy See’s peace initiatives for Ukraine, hoping to support humanitarian operations especially concerning children, the Vatican said Monday.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi’s visit, which lasts through Wednesday, follows his recent mission to Moscow</a> and an earlier stop in Kyiv, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Zuppi is a veteran of the Catholic Church’s peace initiatives and has been tasked by Francis to try to find “paths of peace” between the warring sides. In Moscow, Zuppi met with Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, as well as Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has strongly supported the war.
Francis has taken up Ukraine’s request to intervene where possible to return Ukrainian children transported to Russia following Moscow’s invasion.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine. Russian officials have denied any forced adoptions, saying some Ukrainian children are in foster care.