Diplomacy “offers and promises a possible solution” to the war in Ukraine, Archbishop Paul Gallagher said after holding talks with Russian officials. Source: The Tablet.
“We went to Moscow to speak of peace, to encourage souls troubled by war, and to say: ‘Have courage, embrace the path of peace, have the hope of believing in a better day’,” Archbishop Gallagher told Vatican News after his August 24-28 visit to the Russian capital.
Archbishop Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations, met Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, President Vladmimir Putin’s aide on foreign policy, as well as representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate.
He concluded his visit at the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, where he met clergy and religious from Russia’s Catholic community and celebrated Mass, urging the congregation to build “bridges of dialogue and understanding, disarming hearts and healing wounds through closeness, forgiveness and kindness”.
Speaking after his return to Rome, Archbishop Gallagher acknowledged that “the longer the war continues, the more difficult it will be to restore relations” but emphasised that “historically, all wars end with a negotiation, with an agreement, and then one begins to restore relations between the former belligerents”.
“The Holy See does not enter into the details of the negotiations, nor does it propose technical solutions, because this is the direct responsibility of the belligerent parties,” he said.
“The Holy See, instead, recalls this responsibility and invites them to show goodwill in order seriously to begin a dialogue. And it does so by addressing both the Russian Federation and Ukraine, as well as other countries, asking that no effort be spared to create spaces for dialogue.”
Archbishop Gallagher said that although Russia had not accepted the Holy See’s offer to facilitate negotiations, “the gesture was appreciated, the fact that we are not washing our hands”.
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said Archbishop Gallagher’s visit to Russia was “yet another attempt to stop the aggressor”.
“Interestingly, the word ‘peace’ was spoken in a place where war is currently brewing,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk in a video message last week.
“While Russia speaks of another escalation it intends to carry out in Ukraine, the voice of the Holy Father’s representative called for sitting down at the negotiating table.”
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‘Diplomacy is the road to follow’ says Gallagher after Moscow visit (By Patrick Hudson, The Tablet)
