Asking European leaders for “creative efforts for peace” in Ukraine, the Vatican Secretary of State said the Holy See “will continue to do its part”. Source: NCR Online.
“We cannot accept passively that the war of aggression in that tormented country continues,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin said on Tuesday at the Council of Europe Summit in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Heads of state and government of the council’s 46 member countries voted to establish a “Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine” with a view toward eventually making Russia pay reparations.
“The Council of Europe was founded in the wake of the Second World War, born out of the conviction that ‘the pursuit of peace based upon justice and international cooperation is vital for the preservation of human society and civilisation,’“ the leaders said in their final declaration. “It is a peace project, built on the promise of ‘never again,’ a promise that has been fundamentally challenged by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Cardinal Parolin, addressing the leaders, also spoke about the Council of Europe’s self-definition as “a peace project”.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “the war in Ukraine shows us that the passionate quest of the politics of community and the strengthening of multilateral relations seems a wistful memory from a distant past. We seem to be witnessing the sorry sunset of that choral dream of peace.”
“In the spirit of the founders of this organisation and together with Pope Francis, we should ask ourselves – while thinking not least of war-torn Ukraine – where are creative efforts for peace?” Cardinal Parolin said.
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Vatican secretary of state calls for ‘creative’ peace efforts in Ukraine (By Cindy Wooden, CNS via NCR Online)
