{"id":163388,"date":"2023-06-02T14:27:24","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T11:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/df.news\/?p=163388"},"modified":"2023-06-02T14:27:24","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T11:27:24","slug":"the-vatican-s-foreign-minister-archbishop-gallagher-everyone-must-do-everything-to-end-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/2023\/06\/02\/the-vatican-s-foreign-minister-archbishop-gallagher-everyone-must-do-everything-to-end-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vatican\u2019s \u201cForeign Minister\u201d Archbishop Gallagher: \u00a0everyone must do everything to end war"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an interview with La Stampa<\/a> widely covering the situation in different parts of the world and diplomatic efforts by the Holy See, Archbishop Gallagher also responded to several questions related to seeking peace in Ukraine in the context of Russian aggression.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See\u2019s Secretary for Relations with States can be said to be Pope Francis\u2019 partner in carrying out the Vatican\u2019s Foreign Policy.<\/p>\n

The interview was granted to the outlet shortly before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s visit to Rome and meeting with Pope Francis. At this meeting, Zelensky graciously but firmly turned down the Vatican\u2019s offer for mediation, outlining Ukraine\u2019s 10 ironclad preconditions for talks.<\/p>\n

Is dialogue possible?<\/p>\n

The Vatican supports Ukraine\u2019s right to self-defense and its territorial integrity (Zelensky\u2019s primary premise for entering negotiations) while Russia makes a ceasefire and meeting dependent on prior annexation of parts of Ukraine, the journalist recalled, asking the archbishop: \u201cDo you see a way out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell yes, but it is problematic,\u201d he noted. \u201cThe diplomatic process of the Holy See consists a little bit in juggling the agenda. Like a juggler, we must keep the ball in the air — you don\u2019t want the ball falling on the ground. We need to keep the idea of a peace process alive. We recognize the difficulties, we understand the sufferings of the Ukrainian people and the stance of their leaders. But at the same time, as President Zelensky said long ago, \u2018This war will end at the negotiating table.\u2019 So, whatever we can do — our efforts are designed to try and bring about the arrival at that negotiating table as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doors are open for all parties<\/p>\n

True to time proven tradition, the Vatican always keeps its doors open for dialogue with both sides, the journalist stressed, recalling that Pope Francis would like to visit both Kyiv and Moscow. \u201cPresident Zelensky has invited him but no invitation is forthcoming from Putin. Will that pose a problem?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the Holy Father has decided, whether he wants to visit just one of the capitals\u2026? He has always said he wanted to go to both. And I think the matter is still wishy. We\u2019ll just have to see. If it seems right to go to Ukraine, fine. If it seems impossible to go to Moscow, then that will have to be accepted,\u201d the archbishop answered.<\/p>\n

Asked to elaborate on Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi\u2019s miossion, the archbishop said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to take this opportunity to confirm that the Pope has been contemplating peace in the Ukraine from the very beginning, since the 24th of February 2022, continuously considering ideas and proposals that could contribute to easing of tensions in the Ukraine conflict and to setting in motion paths for a just peace. Now, as Director Matteo Bruni has said, the timing for such a mission and its modalities are currently being studied. At the same time, we hope and pray for such a delicate mission, knowing that speed and timing are also very important!\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone must contribute<\/p>\n

Iran and China\u2019s relations with Russia are considered quite problematic, the journalist emphasized. Iran, the main sponsor of international terrorism and a threat to the entire world, now supplies Russia with arms. Both countries are major human rights violators. Yet China wants to be a mediator between Ukraine and Russia. \u201cWhat do you think of these relations?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first consideration, as we were saying, is the Holy See\u2019s position that it is incumbent upon any nation, any actor to do what they can to bring an end to this war. We encourage all to do that. So, if China can make a contribution, if they have channels of access to Moscow and also to Kyiv, we could only be satisfied with that. As to Iran — we have always said that Iran, in its dealings with the international community must act in a responsible way. Particularly in the Middle East area – we have always believed that Iran is a very important player in Lebanon, in Syria, and in Iraq. Obviously, we would like to see them make a positive contribution to this situation. Maybe that means that they\u2019ve got to review \u2013 change – their policies. In our relations with them, we would be encouraging that. We have full diplomatic relations with Iran. Christians are not without challenges in Iran, and we continue to work with the authorities to improve the condition of life of Catholics in Iran. Sometimes there is some success, other times there is less, but we remain engaged with the Iranian authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an interview with La Stampa widely covering the situation in different parts of the world and diplomatic efforts by the Holy See, Archbishop Gallagher also responded to several questions related to seeking peace in Ukraine in the context of Russian aggression. Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See\u2019s Secretary for Relations with States can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":163377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"telegram_tosend":false,"telegram_tosend_message":"","telegram_tosend_target":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5142,5144],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-163388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-war-en"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/df.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.750.422.jpeg?fit=750%2C422&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163389,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163388\/revisions\/163389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}