Pope Francis has officially welcomed Russia’s new ambassador to the Vatican. The leader of the Roman Catholic Church met with Ambassador Ivan Soltanovsky Monday in Vatican City as the diplomat presented his official documents. Soltanovsky is replacing Ambassador Alexander Avdeev. Avdeev met with Francis in February 2022 at Russia’s Embassy in Rome, the day after Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Soltanovsky’s visit came shortly after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the government was ready to meet again with the Catholic Church’s Ukraine peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi. “The Vatican is continuing its efforts. The papal envoy will come back (to Russia) soon,” Lavrov said last Friday. He was speaking to a group of diplomats and ambassadors during a discussion about Ukraine in Moscow. Zuppi was appointed by Pope Francis in May. Since then, he has visited the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, as well as Moscow, Washington D.C. and Beijing. At first, Zuppi’s efforts seemed centered on a program that seeks to reunite Ukrainian children taken to Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. However, the diplomat also discussed restarting grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports during talks with Chinese officials in Beijing.
