Dialogue, not a blessing. The Vatican’s approach to Russia

Reading yesterday’s reports, it would appear that the Holy See has sided with Moscow in the war against Ukraine. It is even reported that Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, who visited the Russian capital last week and met both Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin’s adviser, Yuri Ushakov, has ‘opened the door to Russia’. The reason for this lies in the extensive interview the British diplomat gave to the Vatican media at the end of his trip. One passage in particular played into the hands of the interpretation most favoured by the Kremlin. “The meetings we have had here in Moscow with various representatives of diplomatic missions,” said Gallagher, “serve to reinforce the Holy See’s initiative to keep the channels of dialogue open; we are convinced that this is the path to follow and that isolating people and countries, quite frankly, does not help. This is our view; obviously, every state has every right to decide its own strategy independently. By coming here to Moscow and doing what others are not doing at the moment, we are inviting people to reflect on whether the strategies implemented so far are yielding results in resolving this tragedy.” Is it a surprise that the Holy See is opposed to the diplomatic isolation of a country, especially one involved in a conflict? Not at all; one need only think of the embassy in Baghdad, which remained open in 2003.

Gallagher himself, however, also says something else, confirming the Holy See’s approach based on dialogue, “because the longer the war goes on, the more difficult it will be to re-establish relations: there are so many victims, so many open wounds. But we know full well that, historically, all conflicts, all wars, end with negotiations, with an agreement, and then relations between the former belligerents begin to be restored. In this sense, diplomacy offers and promises a possible solution. This is also what we, as the Church, have a responsibility and a duty to proclaim. We went to Moscow to speak of peace, to encourage those troubled by the war, and to say: take courage, embrace the path of peace, hold fast to the hope of a better day. And I believe that this, essentially, was our message’. In this sense he issued the appeal not to isolate Russia: yet another attempt to bring it to the negotiating table. However, as Putin’s latest refusal demonstrates, it is Moscow itself that does not want this; it is not fighting for ‘a just peace’, as the Vatican hopes, but for a ‘Russian peace’.

To understand the nature of this, one need only re-read the Kremlin’s propaganda of the last four and a half years or the sermons of Patriarch Kirill, who spoke of a ‘holy war’ against Ukraine, an offshoot of the ‘deviant West’. It is no coincidence that the Holy See’s representative for Relations with States did not go into detail, nor did he concede that Moscow has any justification whatsoever; instead, he limited himself to saying two things: that the war must end and that we must work towards peace. Peskov, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, evidently dissatisfied, remarked that the Vatican representative had spoken in slogans, and Gallagher explained that ‘the Holy See does not go into the details of the negotiations, nor does it propose technical solutions, because this is the direct responsibility of the warring parties’. In short, there is nothing new in the line adopted by the Vatican envoy, the same man who, whilst calling for dialogue with all parties involved in order to initiate negotiations, was advocating “Ukraine’s territorial integrity” as recently as a couple of months ago. This is hardly an opening towards Moscow’s demands.

If anything, the real news emerging from Gallagher’s statements is something else: the channel of communication that continues to exist in relation to efforts to defend Christians: “We have had an open channel of communication with Minister Sergei Lavrov for years, and it is not limited to the war in Ukraine. Russia is deeply rooted in its Orthodox Christian tradition, and there is a shared concern for all Christians who face difficulties in various parts of the world. There are countries where, strictly speaking, it is not correct to speak of persecution, but where there is insecurity, discrimination, prejudice and marginalisation, and Russia, too, is concerned about these issues. It is an area in which we are seeking to renew our shared commitment”. This collaboration reached its peak in 2013, when Pope Francis wrote a letter to Putin imploring him to do everything possible to prevent an attack on Bashar al-Assad’s Syria. Also at stake was the situation of Christian minorities, already oppressed by the expansion of the Islamic State, which marked the homes of ‘infidels’ with the letter ‘N’ for ‘Nazarene’, meaning ‘Christian’. Putin seized the opportunity, assuming the role of defensor fidei, which earned him considerable support even amongst the senior Arab Christian leadership in the Middle East.