(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 05.03.2023).- After the “diplomatic confusion,” stemming from a statement of the Pope on the return flight from Budapest, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, responded to the controversy. He did so in the context of the presentation of a book in Rome.
In response to journalists’ questions, Cardinal Parolin stated that “The Pope said that there will be a mission, which will be announced when it’s public and I repeat the same expressions he used. I will not go into details. The Pope spoke in these terms; let us leave him to be the one that gives more information.”
The Secretary of State was surprised by the reactions of both Russia as well as Ukraine, as, according to him, both sides “as far as I know, were and are aware. And the Cardinal added: “As far as I know, they know it. Then, you know how these things happen, in the midst of the labyrinth of bureaucracy, communications might not reach where it is supposed they must reach. However, mine are only interpretations; I know that both sides have been informed.”
Cardinal Parolin also stated that the presence of the number two of the Russian Orthodox Church in Pope Francis’ General Audience on Wednesday, May 3 in Saint Peter’s Square, has nothing to do with the mission the Pope referred to during the press conference.
