Cardinal Zuppi condemns migration rhetoric and confirms Vatican diplomatic trips to Moscow

Migration policy and European reception

Speaking at the Rimini Meeting on 23 August, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi addressed Italian and European migration policy, criticizing public discourse for reducing rescue efforts to political divisions. Zuppi, who presides over the Italian Episcopal Conference and serves as archbishop of Bologna, reiterated remarks made the previous day by Pope Leo XIV stating that people take precedence over national borders. He recalled that 15 people died in the Mediterranean Sea on 22 August, arguing that the duty to save lives at sea must be paired with structured legal pathways rather than informal entry. He stated that demographic renewal relies on openness as well as birth rates, linking future stability to legal integration managed by a unified European framework.

Saving everyone does not mean that everyone enters, as a certain stupid and vulgar polarization wants to imply. But we must save everyone and then find the ways, the ideas, the regularization, the legalization, to fight illegality with legality. It is a matter of choosing a system that looks to the future. It is not just a question of more children, more future. More reception is also more future.

Warning against enclaves and self-isolation

In his homily delivered at the Rimini exhibition center, Zuppi cautioned against constructing physical and social boundaries out of fear, pointing directly to the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta. He argued that seeking safety through exclusion opposes Christian scripture, describing modern society as fractured by an aggressive culture of power and competing factions. Reflecting on humanitarian frontline workers, Zuppi cited footage of an Italian coast guard officer giving his own socks to a barefoot child arriving on the coast as a clear demonstration of basic humanity.

In the world it is so easy to feel safe closing oneself into an enclave, but this is the opposite of the Gospel message.

Religious mission versus humanitarian bureaucracy

Zuppi also defined the theological role of the Church in contemporary social debates, asserting that religious institutions must not reduce their identity to non-governmental organizations. He warned that rituals lose their meaning if they remain detached from practical engagement, stating that liturgical symbols such as incense become empty without everyday contact. Citing the Russian Orthodox priest Aleksandr Men', Zuppi cautioned the faithful against treating religion as spiritual confection designed solely to comfort the individual ego. He referenced the apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate to emphasize practical holiness among ordinary citizens.

Vatican diplomatic schedule for Moscow

Alongside social topics, Zuppi confirmed the upcoming calendar for Vatican diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the war in Ukraine during an appearance on Tg2 Post. Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher is scheduled to visit Moscow during the final week of August. Zuppi confirmed that he intends to conduct a follow-up diplomatic mission to Russia at the end of September. These travel plans follow Pope Leo XIV's weekend visits to San Marino and Rimini, where the papal addresses prioritized direct diplomacy and negotiations between conflicting parties.