Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine / EPA
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump talked at Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Vatican could be a place for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine after the Pope promised “all efforts” to help end the war.
Zelenskyy Volodym in Donald Trumpno funeral do Pope Francis, not April 26, no Vaticanwhen .
With the idea, three weeks later, the US said the Vatican may return to the scene of peace conversations, but this time, including the Russians as well.
Speaking to journalists in Rome, before meeting the cardinal Matteo Zuppicurrent president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Marco Rubio He said he would discuss the possible forms of help from the Vatican, “the state of conversations, the updates (…) and the way forward.”
Asked if the Vatican could be a peace mediator, Rubio replied: “He would not call him mediator, but (…) It is a place where both parties would feel comfortable“.
“Therefore, we will talk about all this, and obviously we will always be grateful to the Vatican for its willingness to play this constructive and positive role,” Rubio said at the United States embassy in Rome.
Vatican guaranteed neutrality
The Vatican has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality and has long been offering his services to try to facilitate conversations, but was marginalized during the total war, which began on February 24, 2022.
O Papa Franciscowho often annoyed both sides with his comments, Trusted Zuppi a mandate to try to find paths of peace. But the mandate It seemed to be restricted to helping to facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russiaalthough the Holy See has also managed to mediate some prisoners’ exchanges.
Lion XIVwho was elected the first American Pope in history on May 8, resumed Francis’ appeal to peace in Ukraine in his first Sunday blessing as a Pontiff. Appealed to all parties to do everything possible to achieve “An authentic, just and lasting peace”.
The Pope, who when he was a bishop in Peru had called the war in Ukraine an “imperialist invasion,” promised this week personally “make every effort to make peace prevail.”
In a discourse directed at the eastern rite Catholics, including the Greco-Catholic Church of Ukraine, Leo XIV begged the parties to conflict that they gathered and negotiate.
“The Holy See is always ready to help gather enemies, face to faceto talk to each other, so that the peoples of the whole world can return to find hope and regain the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace“He said.
It was not the first time of the Vatican
The Vatican got what was perhaps the greatest diplomatic de achievement of the Pontificate of Francis Facilitated conversations between the United States and Cubain 2014, which resulted in the reactive of diplomatic relations.
The Holy See has also been often a host of much less secret diplomatic initiatives, such as when gathered the rival leaders of southern Sudanin 2019. The meeting was famous with the image of Francis to lean to kiss the feet of rival leaders, asking them to make peace.
Perhaps the Holy See’s most critical diplomatic initiative took place during the height of the Cuban missile crisis, when, in the fall of 1962, Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev ordered the secret installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba, which were rapidly detected by American spy aircraft.
While the Kennedy administration pondered its reaction, with the threat of a nuclear war to turn in the air, the Pope John XXIII appealed to peace in a public speech on the radio, a speech to the Vatican ambassadors and He wrote in private Kennedy and Khrushchev, appealing to their love for their peoples.
Many historians consider that the appeals of John XXIII helped both parties to move away from the imminence of a nuclear war.
