Vatican Ready To Mediate Russia-Ukraine Dispute

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Pope Francis during a private meeting in Vatican City, Wednesday (10/6/15). (Photo: Antara/Reuters)

JAKARTA - Vatican authorities said on Monday that they were ready to "facilitate dialogue" between Russia and Ukraine to end the war, and called for an immediate halt to "military attacks".

Foreign Minister Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is second only to the pope in the Vatican hierarchy, told Italian newspapers that "despite the war Russia is waging against Ukraine" he "believes there is always room for negotiation".

Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican, Andriy Yurash, told Reuters in an interview on February 14 that Kiev was open to Vatican mediation over its conflict with Russia, calling the Vatican a "very influential, very spiritual place for meetings".

Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomat, told Italian newspapers that dialogue was the only "reasonable and constructive" way to resolve differences.

"The Holy See, which in recent years has been following events in Ukraine constantly, quietly and with great concern, offering to facilitate dialogue with Russia, always ready to help both sides continue on such a path," he said, according to transcript on the official Vatican News website.

"Most importantly, the military offensive must stop immediately. We are all witnesses of its tragic consequences," he said.

He suggested that this is what Pope Francis said to the Russian ambassador when he made a surprise visit to the Russian embassy in the Vatican on Friday, in an unprecedented departure from diplomatic protocol.

Parolin said the world was witnessing events similar to those that preceded the start of the Second World War, an apparent reference to the German invasion of Poland in 1939.

Pope Francis on Sunday made an impassioned call for humanitarian corridors to help refugees leave Ukraine and said those at war should not be fooled into thinking God is on their side.