Cardinal Parolin Raises Creating a New Helsinki Again

Dec. 23, 2022 (EIRNS)—Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin (in Italian) gave an interview to the Naples daily Il Mattino, in which he relaunched the idea of a new Helsinki conference. However, “The bitter reality is this: neither the attackers nor the attacked agree at this time to sit at the negotiating table,” Parolin says. Despite that, all efforts must be made.

“A new Helsinki must be our goal today. We need to recover that spirit, working with creativity. We need to face this crisis, this war and the many forgotten wars with new tools and outside the old logic of military alliances and ideological and economic colonialism. ... Why, then, not work together to bring about a new, great European Conference?”

Parolin exposed the failure of European countries: “It is necessary to ask: does Europe still believe in the rules that it gave itself after World War II, thanks to the foresight of its founding fathers?” The answer is clear: “Those principles and rules that Europe gave itself at the end of the conflict sometimes appear to be blurring.”

In the interview, Parolin compares conditions that led to the first Helsinki to conditions today, and refers to the teachings of one of the architects of Helsinki, Agostino Cardinal Casaroli (1914-1998), and his collaborator Achille Cardinal Silvestrini (1923-2019), whom he considers his teachers. He also justifies Pope Francis’ diplomatic blunders as a function of his temperament. However, it is Parolin himself who leads the dance, writes interviewer Angelo Scelzo.

In the end, Parolin seems to hint at the Vatican’s intention to promote a broader peace movement. Writes Scelzo:

“A more fluid diplomacy has now taken shape, attentive to the contributions of the peace movements. ‘One cannot squander that yearning for peace that dwells in the hearts of so many young people,’ says Parolin, and humanized in an unprecedented way by the Pope’s gestures. This, too, is a sign of change and a full awareness that we are facing a whole new era. Helsinki also evokes a physical venue where peace negotiations can take place.”

As for the Vatican being a venue for a new Helsinki conference, he considers it premature:

“ ‘The Holy See, as we have reiterated many times,’ affirms Parolin, ‘is available to facilitate in every way, including in this, the mediation of peace. To speak of a location, however, may appear, unfortunately, premature.’ The feeling of a machine already long broken in and ready to go is largely dominant. The Vatican is just waiting to tread another important and perhaps decisive path on a diplomatic road already marked on its maps. It is Francis who sets the route. With Parolin firmly at the steering wheel.”