Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Pope Francis’ special envoy, will leave for Beijing on Tuesday, 12 September with the diplomatic goal of promoting an end to the war in Ukraine. 

According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Cardinal Zuppi is likely to meet with "top institutional leaders", including Chinese Premier Li Qiang, on Wednesday, the newspaper said. 

The Pope's envoy already visited Kyiv and Moscow in June, and the following month he went to Washington as part of the Vatican's efforts to achieve peace between Ukraine and Russia. 

US President Joe Biden met with Zuppi in Washington to hold "peace talks". 

On 4 July, Matteo Zuppi announced that he was working on a mechanism for the return of Ukrainian children who had been abducted and moved to Russia.