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kiev.-Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Pope’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, have held a meeting in which they discussed the consequences of the war following the Russian invasion.
“We focused on the decisions of the first Peace Summit and the role of the Vatican in establishing a just and lasting peace for Ukraine. I am grateful for the Cardinal’s support for our country and our people,” Zelensky said in a post on his social media account after the meeting.
The Ukrainian president stressed that he had a “significant meeting” with the Pope’s Secretary of State, during which they discussed the “consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, ongoing air terrorism, the difficult humanitarian situation and the results of the meeting with Francis in June in Italy.”
Parolin, for his part, has called for always guaranteeing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, while on the diplomatic level he has invited people to be “a little creative, in the sense of finding formulas that can help open paths to peace.” “We are quite far from a negotiated solution,” he lamented.
The Secretary of State also addressed the Ukrainian president’s peace platform, which he recalled they had supported from the beginning “as an attempt at peace that could help in some way, although they were also very aware of its weakness, which is the fact that it did not involve Russia,” Vatican News reported.
“Obviously, when peace is made, it must be made between the two contenders, but it seems to me that we are still very far from that. I hope that we can also find other formulas that allow us to open some glimmer of hope,” he said.
Regarding the meaning of his visit, which began on July 20, the cardinal said that the main message of these days is to “keep the international community’s attention on the war, so that it does not become another forgotten conflict.”
“Perhaps, because it is taking place in the heart of Europe, there is even more attention than in other wars taking place on other continents,” he said. For the Pope’s Secretary of State, there is “a bit of a danger” that “everything will be crushed,” so that “something as serious as a war runs the risk of becoming news and nothing more.”
On the other hand, during the meeting this Monday with the members of the Council of Churches and Religious Organizations of Ukraine, held at the Apostolic Nunciature in kyiv, the Cardinal Secretary of State reiterated the commitment of the Holy See to end the conflict: “War is always a defeat, humanitarian aid to the population is important.”
“War is a very complex issue, but it has pain and suffering as a common denominator,” stressed the cardinal, who emphasized the “repudiation of war, which is also one of the fundamental principles of international law.”
Based on what Pope Francis has repeatedly stated, the Secretary of State has recalled that “war can never be used as a solution to the problems present in the international community.”Infobae.
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2024-07-26 13:28:46
