Vatican's Cardinal Parolin meets with Russia’s Lavrov at UN in New York after which the Russian Government Issued a Statement

 

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, met with Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister.  

The encounter took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, which is taking place in New York. Separately, on Wednesday, the Cardinal had spoken at the 10th meeting of the Friends of the CTBT – a group established in 2002 and consisting of Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands. On that occasion, the Secretary of State reaffirmed that “as global tensions rise and we hear rhetoric threatening the use of nuclear weapons, it is more crucial than ever to bring the CTBT into force with rising global tensions and rhetoric threatening the use of nuclear weapons.” (CTBT stands for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty) Cardinal Parolin's statement echoes Pope Francis’ countless calls to disarmament and the need to put a stop to the arms trade.

After the meeting between Cardinal Parolin and Foreign Minister Lavrov, the Russian government issued a statement. In it, they said the crisis between Russia and the West is "the result of NATO's crusade to destroy Russia" and that the referendum in the occupied areas "fully" complies with international law. At the same time, Russia acknowledged that the dialogue between Russia and the Vatican is proving to be productive.

 At his audience, Pope Francis recalled that Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner, recently returned from his latest mission from war-torn Ukraine. "He told me of the pain of this people, the savage actions, the monstrosities, the tortured corpses they find," said the Pope. And again he insisted on the only path forward: "Let us not forget: peace is possible when weapons are silent and dialogue begins!"

Sources: Vatican News and Rome Reports