Top Vatican diplomat calls use of NATO weapons against Russia 'worrying'

ROME – As several Western countries, including the United States, have given Ukraine permission to use their weapons in strikes on Russian territory, the Vatican's top diplomat warned that such steps would mark a serious escalation in the war in Ukraine and would represent a “worrying” situation. perspective.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a book presentation in Milan this week, Italian Cardinal Piero Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, said of the use of NATO weapons against Russia: “I think this should worry anyone who cares about the fate of our world.”

“This could lead to an escalation that no one will be able to control, it is a worrying prospect,” he said.

Parolin was in Milan for the presentation of a book entitled “In the service of Italy and the Pope”, about the Italian banker Bernardino Nogara, founder of the so-called “Vatican Bank”, whose official title is the Institute for Works of Religion.

Parolin's remarks come as members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) consider allowing Ukraine to use weapons they have supplied on targets on Russian territory.

Discussions on this point have intensified in recent days after Russia launched a new offensive in Kharkiv, the latest in its efforts to advance in Ukraine after launching a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has urged alliance members to lift restrictions on the use of military support provided to Ukraine, allowing Kiev to strike “legitimate military targets” inside Russia.

Similarly, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in early May that Ukraine could use weapons supplied by London on targets in Russia and that it was up to kyiv to decide whether or not to do so.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron, during a five-day visit to Germany, said: “We should allow them to neutralize the military sites from which missiles are fired, the military sites from which Ukraine is attacked.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, present at a joint press conference with Macron, supported this position, which was also supported by several Eastern European NATO members.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday partially lifted restrictions on how Ukraine can use military supplies sent by the United States, indicating a partial step toward using U.S. weapons in Russia.

In response, Russia's top security official, Dmitry Medvedev, warned that he was ready to retaliate if Western weapons were used, saying: “Russia considers that all long-range weapons used by Ukraine are already directly controlled by the military of NATO countries. »

“This is not military assistance, it is participation in a war against us,” he said, adding that “such actions could well become a war against us.” casus belli“, that is to say an act which provokes a war.

Medvedev said it would be a “fatal mistake” for the West to think Russia is not ready to use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine, and alluded to strikes by unnamed hostile countries with strategic nuclear weapons: “It is, unfortunately, neither intimidation. nor bluffing.

Regarding the Holy See's intervention in the war in Ukraine, Parolin said that “we are involved at the humanitarian level, especially on the issue of the return of Ukrainian children to their homeland.”

Collaboration on this front began with the visit of Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna to Moscow last summer as Pope Francis' official peace envoy for the war in Ukraine, he said, asserting that the mission of Zuppi “does not continue very quickly, but it bears fruit”.

In his role as Ukraine peace envoy, Zuppi traveled to Moscow, kyiv, Washington DC and Beijing, primarily to advance a humanitarian agenda. The Vatican has repeatedly offered to mediate the conflict, but Ukrainian authorities have insisted that they do not need mediation and that any peace plan to end the war must comply on their terms.

Parolin also called for participation in this month's European parliamentary elections, saying the Church “is never party-oriented” and as such “we cannot express ourselves in favor or against one or the other “.

However, he stressed the importance of European citizens' participation in voting, “because this means implementing and exercising democracy.”

At the same time, Parolin, echoing the concerns of many European bishops, said citizens must also “take into account the values ​​of candidates who are close and similar to Catholic sensibilities.” I would say that these are the principles that we must adhere to as far as we are concerned.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen