More than two months into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said that the Holy See continues working closely with its contacts Ukraine to bring the war to an end.
He stressed that a dialogue between all sides that is open to compromise is the only way to achieve peace.
CARD. PIETRO PAROLIN
Vatican Secretary of State
It's important that there aren't any preconditions, so that all the options can be put on the table and slowly a shared solution can be found.
There are no other ways, otherwise the war will continue to devour the children of Ukraine.
Speaking at a press conference in Rome to present a new book compiling Pope Francis' condemnations of war, the Vatican's top diplomat said that the war in Ukraine can be traced back to the decline in multilateralism that followed the end of the Cold War.
CARD. PIETRO PAROLIN
Vatican Secretary of State
I have the impression that this war was in a certain sense an obvious consequence of a process that has been taking place in the last decades.
You could see that nations and world leaders no longer believed in common solutions to problems.
The Cardinal called for a return to the spirit of Helsinki, referring to the 1975 conference in Finland in which European countries and other allies came together and signed an agreement to ease tensions between the East and the West.
Its a principle embodied in the title of the Pope's latest book: “Against War: The Courage to Build Peace.”
JM
