(OSV News): From unilateral actions in Venezuela to continued violence in Iran, the world is steadily sliding into a “crisis of values” that risks sparking international war, Pietro Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, warned on January 17.
Speaking to journalists outside Rome’s Domus Mariae Church, Cardinal Parolin lamented the decline of diplomacy and confirmed a Washington Post report that the Holy See tried and failed to broker a peaceful transition in Venezuela.
“We had tried to find a solution that would avoid any bloodshed, perhaps by reaching an agreement also with [Venezuelan president, Nicolás] Maduro and with the othaer representatives of the regime, but this was not possible,” Cardinal Parolin said, according to the Italian newspaper, Il Corriere Della Sera.
The Washington Post reported that the cardinal met on Christmas Eve with Brian Burch, the United States’ ambassador to the Holy See, to inform US officials that Russia was willing to grant asylum to Maduro in an attempt to avoid bloodshed in Venezuela.
We had tried to find a solution that would avoid any bloodshed, perhaps by reaching an agreement also with [Venezuelan president, Nicolás] Maduro and with the othaer representatives of the regime, but this was not possible
Cardinal Parolin
Ultimately, the US carried out a military operation in the early morning hours of January 3, resulting in the capture of Maduro and his wife, and transporting them to New York to face narco-terrorism conspiracy charges.
After confirming the report, Cardinal Parolin said he hoped that the current situation “evolves toward stability, toward economic recovery—because the economic situation is truly very, very precarious—and also toward a democratisation of the country.”
Il Corriere Della Sera reported that before celebrating Mass on January 17, the Vatican secretary of state delivered a lecture at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the institution that trains priests for service in the diplomatic corps and the Secretariat of State.
In his lecture, Cardinal Parolin warned of a “crisis of multipolarism” that “disregards the values upon which the community of nations was gradually built.
“Conscience and reason can no longer tolerate violations of sovereignty in their most diverse forms, the forced displacement of entire peoples, the change in the ethnic composition of territories, the subtraction of means necessary for economic activity, or the limitation of freedoms,” the cardinal said.
Responding to a question regarding repeated threats by US president, Donald Trump, to acquire Greenland, Cardinal Parolin recalled his lecture and told journalists that solutions based on force “cannot be used.”
Conscience and reason can no longer tolerate violations of sovereignty in their most diverse forms, the forced displacement of entire peoples, the change in the ethnic composition of territories, the subtraction of means necessary for economic activity, or the limitation of freedoms
Cardinal Parolin
He also warned that the “spirit of multilateralism that characterised the post-war years” was “being lost.”
He stressed, “This is not acceptable, and will lead increasingly to conflict, to a war within the international community.”
Cardinal Parolin also expressed his concern over the “endless tragedy” in Iran where a crackdown on anti-government protests resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.
“I ask myself how it is possible to rage against one’s own people, that there have been so many deaths—it is an endless tragedy,” the cardinal said.
The Vatican secretary of state emphasised the Holy See’s consistent call for diplomatic solutions instead of resorting to armed conflict and expressed his hope “that we can reach a resolution to this state of affairs.”
