Pope ambassador in Kiev, diplomatic faith? We don’t stop
“The fact that the Pope spoke publicly of a ‘peace mission’ is already significant. Francis continues his attempt to find a diplomatic path to peace, knowing that one cannot remain idle: an attempt is made, he does it again, he knocks on all doors, hoping that sooner or later one will finally open up door opens. This was stated by the Lithuanian Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, Apostolic Nuncio in Kiev and Pope’s Ambassador to Ukraine since 2021, in an interview with Corriere della Sera. opportunity, excellence? “If you look at it logically or in a purely human way, you would say, ‘No’. But you see, we are men of faith and our vocation, also as diplomats, is to continue, despite everything, even in the situation that seems desperate, we have to do our job – he stresses – and that is what we do… “. Can humanitarian mediation be a route to wider negotiations? “Of course yes, even if everything remains very difficult,” adds the Archbishop. “Everything was blocked from the political level,” he explains. Last year, in mid-February, it was known that war was about to begin, that the Russian invasion was imminent. Indirectly, I had heard that the Russian military was talking about this and they were concerned. The generals who were at the front, at least some of them, didn’t want this war. But if the Kremlin decides to run it, they have to do it.” For Kulbokas, therefore, we must “insist on a humanitarian dialogue”.