Vatican urges EU to keep dialogue channel open with Russia

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has called for the establishment of a channel of dialogue with Moscow, saying Russia should not be isolated and that the European Union should support efforts aimed at finding mutually beneficial solutions to ensure security and well-being for all.

“Russia should not be isolated; it is necessary to establish some kind of channel for dialogue, because only through dialogue can solutions be found [including to the Ukrainian crisis],” Vatican News quoted Parolin as saying.

“This is the path that we so often affirm in our diplomacy — a mutually beneficial solution, that is, when every decision truly benefits both sides. And I believe that if we move along this path, perhaps there will no longer be a situation in which one side prevails over the other or one is destroyed by the other,” he added.

Parolin stressed that Vatican diplomacy is not intended to deliver immediate results. He did not specify when Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, would travel to Moscow as part of a planned visit at the end of the month.

However, he confirmed that the Vatican intends to continue its work on humanitarian issues, seeking to bring the sides closer together and contribute to a ceasefire, negotiations and dialogue.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican secretary for relations with states, visited Moscow in August.

According to the ANSA news agency, Parolin also stressed the importance of “establishing a channel for dialogue” when discussing the EU’s policy toward Russia.

“It is necessary to find a platform that would ensure the security of everyone and make it possible to work out something,” ANSA quoted him as saying.

By Tamilla Hasanova