After Pope Francis' words on Ukraine on Swiss Radio and Television, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin intervenes on the issue in an interview with Corriere della Sera: "The world risks a nuclear escalation".
We publish some answers from the interview given to Gian Guido Vecchi by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, published today on Corriere della Sera.
Your Eminence, it seems clear that the Pope is asking for negotiation and not surrender. But why address only one of the two parties, Ukraine and not Russia? And doesn't evoking the "defeat" of the attacked as a motivation for negotiation risk being counterproductive?
«As recalled by the director of the Vatican press office, citing the words of the Holy Father of 25 February, the Pontiff's appeal is that "the conditions are created for a diplomatic solution in search of a just and lasting peace". In this sense it is obvious that the creation of such conditions is not just up to one of the parties, but rather to both, and the first condition seems to me to be precisely that of putting an end to the aggression. We must never forget the context and, in this case, the question that was asked of the Pope, who, in response, spoke of negotiation and, in particular, of the courage of negotiation, which is never a surrender. The Holy See pursues this line and continues to ask for a "ceasefire" - and the aggressors should be the ones who cease fire - and therefore the opening of negotiations. The Holy Father explains that negotiating is not weakness, but strength. It's not surrender, but it's courage. And he tells us that we must have a greater regard for human life, for the hundreds of thousands of human lives that have been sacrificed in this war in the heart of Europe. These are words that apply to Ukraine as well as to the Holy Land and to the other conflicts that are bloodying the world."
Is the Holy See's concern an escalation? You yourself spoke about it, saying that the hypothesis of involvement of Western countries is "scary".
«The Holy See is worried about the risk of an extension of the war. The rising level of conflict, the explosion of new armed clashes, the arms race are dramatic and disturbing signs in this sense. The expansion of the war means new suffering, new deaths, new victims, new destruction, which are added to those that the Ukrainian people, especially children, women, elderly and civilians, experience in their own flesh, paying the excessively high price of this war unjust".
Still on the subject of escalation: the Pope has spoken several times about the danger of a nuclear conflict, "one accident is enough", is this the underlying fear of the Holy See? An "accident" like in Sarajevo in '14?
«The risk of a fatal nuclear “drift” is not absent. Just look at the regularity with which certain government representatives resort to this threat. I can only hope that this is strategic propaganda and not a "warning" of a truly possible event. As for the "fundamental fear" of the Holy See, I believe that it is rather that the various actors in this tragic situation will end up closing themselves even more in their own interests, not doing what they can to achieve a just and stable peace".