> Vatican City – During the 60 days of conflict, Pope Francis has tried three times to exert his moral authority over the Kremlin, sending direct messages to Moscow through diplomatic channels and also appealing to the Patriarchate to help set up a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol. But on three occasions Russia has let the Vatican know that it would not guarantee any safe passage. In the last attempt, last week, there was even a hint of the idea, which was then dropped because it was rather complicated to implement, of making available the transfer of civilians trapped in the Mariupol steelworks by means of a boat flying the yellow-white flag, i.e. that of the Holy See. According to Il Messaggero, this hypothesis was put forward for a few days and then dropped, even if, from a logistical point of view, it might have been easier to transfer the civilians, given that the Azofstal steelworks are located right on the port of Mariupol.
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> The wife of a Ukrainian soldier: “The Pope should intervene for those trapped in the steelworks in Mariupol, my husband is inside”.
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> Of course, everything developed in silence and discretion, as they are usually used to working in the Secretariat of State. For the Vatican, it was certainly yet another disappointment, with the Pope having hoped to the last to be able to guarantee an escape route for civilians exhausted for two months and forced to survive like rats in the ramified belly of the steelworks, a vast area used during the bombing as an anti-aircraft shelter and transformed into a trap. At the moment, among the thousand or so people (many civilians), there are also 15 children. There is no running water, they only have stocks of demineralised water, used for radiators.
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> In the meantime, the Nuncio in Kiev, Monsignor Visvaldas Kulbokas, has explained that in both the first and second attempts to create a humanitarian corridor to safe Ukrainian-controlled areas – “They have not given us any guarantees” – he should also have been personally involved. Towards the end of March, following several contacts with the Moscow Patriarchate, an Orthodox bishop was supposed to facilitate the operation. Monsignor Kulbokas and the Orthodox archbishop were to have personally taken charge of the mission to go to Mariupol, but at the last minute something went wrong and the Russian military authorities responded negatively, causing the transfer to be cancelled.
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> The second attempt was to take place around Easter time. In this case, the Pope would have sent to Mariupol his trusted cardinal for humanitarian missions, the Pole Konrad Kraiewski, who was available after having just successfully completed the transfer of an ambulance from Rome to Kiev, a gift from the Pope to the hospitals. Kraiewski himself drove the ambulance all the way through Poland, and was able to personally verify the possibility of doing the same thing for Mariupol, going to the martyred city. The Russian authorities, also in this case, delayed the decision and then reported that they would not guarantee humanitarian coverage. “Niet. In the absence of guarantees, the territory becomes impassable and obviously very dangerous.
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> Just this morning Cardinal Pietro Parolin did not hide his pessimism about the possibility of resuming the threads of dialogue and negotiation between Russia and Ukraine. A very bad signal. “I am pessimistic,” said Parolin, who, however, encourages “insisting on this ground, that of diplomacy and multilateralism, otherwise the war will continue to devour the children of Ukraine”. As for the debated issue of sending weapons to Kiev, the secretary of state repeated that nations have “the right to defend themselves against the invasion they have suffered”, although insisting only on the war side without the diplomatic side does not bear fruit. “I’m just saying that limiting ourselves to arms is a weak response.
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5 comments
> Vatican City – During the 60 days of conflict, Pope Francis has tried three times to exert his moral authority over the Kremlin, sending direct messages to Moscow through diplomatic channels and also appealing to the Patriarchate to help set up a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol. But on three occasions Russia has let the Vatican know that it would not guarantee any safe passage. In the last attempt, last week, there was even a hint of the idea, which was then dropped because it was rather complicated to implement, of making available the transfer of civilians trapped in the Mariupol steelworks by means of a boat flying the yellow-white flag, i.e. that of the Holy See. According to Il Messaggero, this hypothesis was put forward for a few days and then dropped, even if, from a logistical point of view, it might have been easier to transfer the civilians, given that the Azofstal steelworks are located right on the port of Mariupol.
>
> The wife of a Ukrainian soldier: “The Pope should intervene for those trapped in the steelworks in Mariupol, my husband is inside”.
>
> Of course, everything developed in silence and discretion, as they are usually used to working in the Secretariat of State. For the Vatican, it was certainly yet another disappointment, with the Pope having hoped to the last to be able to guarantee an escape route for civilians exhausted for two months and forced to survive like rats in the ramified belly of the steelworks, a vast area used during the bombing as an anti-aircraft shelter and transformed into a trap. At the moment, among the thousand or so people (many civilians), there are also 15 children. There is no running water, they only have stocks of demineralised water, used for radiators.
>
> In the meantime, the Nuncio in Kiev, Monsignor Visvaldas Kulbokas, has explained that in both the first and second attempts to create a humanitarian corridor to safe Ukrainian-controlled areas – “They have not given us any guarantees” – he should also have been personally involved. Towards the end of March, following several contacts with the Moscow Patriarchate, an Orthodox bishop was supposed to facilitate the operation. Monsignor Kulbokas and the Orthodox archbishop were to have personally taken charge of the mission to go to Mariupol, but at the last minute something went wrong and the Russian military authorities responded negatively, causing the transfer to be cancelled.
>
>
>
> The second attempt was to take place around Easter time. In this case, the Pope would have sent to Mariupol his trusted cardinal for humanitarian missions, the Pole Konrad Kraiewski, who was available after having just successfully completed the transfer of an ambulance from Rome to Kiev, a gift from the Pope to the hospitals. Kraiewski himself drove the ambulance all the way through Poland, and was able to personally verify the possibility of doing the same thing for Mariupol, going to the martyred city. The Russian authorities, also in this case, delayed the decision and then reported that they would not guarantee humanitarian coverage. “Niet. In the absence of guarantees, the territory becomes impassable and obviously very dangerous.
>
> Just this morning Cardinal Pietro Parolin did not hide his pessimism about the possibility of resuming the threads of dialogue and negotiation between Russia and Ukraine. A very bad signal. “I am pessimistic,” said Parolin, who, however, encourages “insisting on this ground, that of diplomacy and multilateralism, otherwise the war will continue to devour the children of Ukraine”. As for the debated issue of sending weapons to Kiev, the secretary of state repeated that nations have “the right to defend themselves against the invasion they have suffered”, although insisting only on the war side without the diplomatic side does not bear fruit. “I’m just saying that limiting ourselves to arms is a weak response.
>
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Huh. It’s as if Russians were the agresors here or something
Pope should gather Holy League navy again
They really are scum!
Putin’s more than overdue to be smitten anyway.