VATICAN CITY. “Certainly the Pope would not go to Kiev to take positions either in favor of one or in favor of the other, as he has always done”. And among the possible places for the meeting between Francis and the patriarch of Moscow Kirill is Lebanon. Word of the Vatican cardinal secretary of state Pietro Parolin, questioned on the sidelines of a conference.
Regarding the eventuality of the Pope’s trip to Ukraine, the cardinal explains that “the conditions must exist”: “On the Ukrainian side, there seem to be, because ample assurance has been given that there would be no dangers. And reference is also made to the various trips that have been made by other leaders and that will be made. So this visit can be done in the end ». It is a question of understanding “what consequences it can have, if it really can bring about or contribute to the end of the war, it is on this evaluation that we are still thinking”. For Parolin, relations with the Russian Orthodox must also be taken into account: “You know that the situation is extremely delicate”. Meanwhile, the Vatican “foreign minister”, Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, is due to go to Kiev shortly.
About the possibility that Francesco and Kirill will meet in Beirut, the destination of a probable flight by Bergoglio in June, he says: “Yes, there are various hypotheses, research is a post-neutral, this is a bit of the condition, but there is no it’s nothing definite. Work is underway ».
While at the Catholic portal Aci Stampa the Secretary of State affirms that there is “the right to self-defense. That is the principle on the basis of which Ukraine is resisting Russia ». In the meantime, «the international community wants to avoid an escalation, and therefore so far no one has intervened, but I see many who send weapons. This is terrible to think, it could cause an escalation that cannot be controlled ».