War between Russia and Ukraine: Can Pope Francis and the Vatican help make peace?

Unlike Turkey or Israel, the Vatican needed more time to publicly offer himself as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine. This was made clear this Monday 14 by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the number two of the Church who is remembered for having been infected with coronavirus at the beginning of this year.

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The Vatican Secretary of State Held “that the Holy See’s offer to mediate was personally discussed in recent days” with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. There is, to date, no concrete answer from the Kremlin.

Parolin has said that it doesn’t really matter if it is the Holy See that achieves peace, but that the war finally ends. In addition, he has recalled that the Church is praying to achieve this goal.

Last Sunday, the Pope Francisco He addressed his parishioners and said:

“Brothers and sisters: we have just prayed to the Virgin Mary. This week the city that bears her name, Mariupol, has become a martyr city of a harsh war that devastates Ukraine”.

These words, says the EFE agency, are added to other attempts -more concrete- to achieve peace. One day after the start of the war, on February 25, the Supreme Pontiff would have visited the Russian embassy in the Vatican. Also, he has sent delegates to work on this matter.

So far, however, any talks have fallen on deaf ears.

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An experienced mediator

Juan Fonseca, historian specializing in religious issues and professorremember what could be the last time Catholic Church acted as mediator in a contemporary conflict. In 1978, Argentina and Chile put an end to the crisis beagle channel thanks to the mediation of the pope John Paul II.

The signing of the act that opened “the path to the peace agreement” took place in MontevideoUruguay, in the Taranco Palace. The Pope of that time was decisive”to restore peace and harmony between the two countries”, which is then “translated into the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984″.

Fonseca remembers: “That experience was curious because there were three popes involved: Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II.”.

“That mediation could be considered the most important. Then there were other cases, but they did not always end successfully because there are many more factors to take into account.”.

“But, in any case, the Church is frequently summoned to this role because of the diplomatic and moral weight that it still wields.”.

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Reasons for pessimism

However, Fonseca believes that, in this conflict, the Vatican it will not succeed. There are two reasons that explain his perspective.

The first is that another religion is practiced in the conflict zone. “The Russian Orthodox Church, which is the majority and has served as the religious arm of Vladimir Putin’s project, sees the countries of the former Soviet Union as part of its ecclesiastical territory.”.

“It should be noted that the patriarch of Moscow sees these nations in the same way as Putin, only from the religious side.”.

In that context, some kind of intervention from the Vatican is not likely to be welcomed by Russian Orthodoxy. “Even also the Ukrainian”.

The second thing, explains Fonseca, is that for dialogue to exist and be successful, the parties involved must have the need to seek peace. And that is precisely what does not happen.

“Russia is invading, it is the fort, so I don’t see that they have that intention”.

“In any case, if the sanctions begin to hit them harder, they may accept some kind of dialogue, but it will not necessarily be through the Catholic Church.”.

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Source: Elcomercio

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