ROME — Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Tuesday, urging him to bring an end to the armed attacks on Ukraine.
“I confirm the phone call between the Cardinal Secretary of State and the Russian Foreign Minister,” declared Vatican Press Secretary Matteo Bruni in an email message.
“The Cardinal conveyed Pope Francis’ deep concern for the ongoing war in Ukraine and reaffirmed what the pope said last Sunday at the Angelus,” Bruni continued, in reference to the pontiff’s appeal for a ceasefire.
“Rivers of blood and tears are flowing in Ukraine,” the pope told crowds gathered in the Vatican Sunday. “It is not merely a military operation, but a war, which sows death, destruction and misery.”
In particular, Bruni continued, Cardinal Parolin reiterated the pope’s call for “an end to armed attacks, for humanitarian corridors for civilians and rescuers to be ensured, for gun violence to be replaced by negotiation.”
“In this sense, finally, the Secretary of State reaffirmed the Holy See’s readiness ‘to do everything to put itself at the service of this peace,’” Bruni concluded.
Moscow also reported on Tuesday’s phone call between its foreign minister and the Vatican official.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that, in Minister Lavrov’s conversation with Cardinal Parolin, the minister had “outlined the principled Russian position regarding the causes and goals of the special military operation being carried out in Ukraine.”
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