The Vatican’s foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, demanded an end to the war in Ukraine during talks with the Russian foreign minister. Source: The Tablet.
“Let us be clear, this war must end,” Archbishop Gallagher told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday following a meeting with Sergei Lavrov.
He said that each day of the war “creates new victims, exacerbates the divergences between the peoples involved and renders future reconciliation ever more difficult”.
“It is, therefore, urgent and necessary to end and to look beyond the conflict in order to ensure that the future memory of past wrongs does not become a prison, nor that present sufferings become a legacy of hatred,” he continued.
Archbishop Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations, arrived in Moscow on Monday for a five-day visit to include meetings with state officials and representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate, whose leadership endorsed the invasion of Ukraine, as well as members of the local Catholic community.
On Wednesday he was due to meet Yuri Ushakov, President Vladmimir Putin’s aide on foreign policy, who last week said Russia would not consider freezing the conflict in Ukraine along the current frontlines.
Speaking alongside Mr Lavrov after their meeting in the Morozova Palace, Archbishop Gallagher said he had repeated Pope Leo’s appeal “to end hostilities and to begin authentic negotiations with the support of the international community”, urging “both parties to demonstrate openness and good will, so that such can become a reality as soon as possible”.
“The position of the Holy See remains clear: the conflict cannot be resolved by military means. It is essential to create the conditions for a serious political and diplomatic process,” he said.
“Engaging in authentic dialogue implies recognition of the fact that the longer the conflict continues, the more difficult it will be to arrive at an adequate resolution, while the sufferings of the population continue to increase.”
Mr Lavrov spoke before Archbishop Gallagher, describing Moscow’s relations with the Holy See as “trustworthy, friendly and pragmatic” and thanking “our colleagues for their balanced position on the situation in and around Ukraine”.
He referred to the Ukrainian strike in May on a college dormitory in the town of Starobelsk in the occupied territory of Luhansk, saying Russia “will never forget it and will seek justice for [Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s] bloody terror attack”.
Archbishop Gallagher said their “frank and constructive discussion” was valuable despite the “lingering and substantial differences in our evaluation of certain issues”.
The archbishop cited various points of common ground in their dialogue which “can form a concrete foundation upon which further to build diplomacy”.
FULL STORY
‘This war must end’: Gallagher calls for negotiations in Moscow (By Patrick Hudson, The Tablet)
