The Vatican Secretary of State thanked Russia for the release of two priests from Ukraine and asked to respect the human rights of military prisoners of war, in addition to encouraging the reciprocal exchange of soldiers.
As reported by the Vatican Press OfficeOn September 16, Cardinal Pietro Parolin held a video conference with Tatiana Moskalkova, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation.
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The statement notes that, during the conversation, the Secretary of State thanked the “Russian ombudsman for the role she played in the release of two Ukrainian priests.”
At the end of June, Russia released the Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta, members of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), who had been captured in November 2022 after being accused of having committed “subversive” and ” guerrillas”.
Priests serving in the Temple of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary were accused of allegedly possessing weapons, ammunition and books on the history of Ukraine in a parish building.
Bishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop in kyiv of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, then expressed his “deep gratitude to the Holy See”, particularly to Pope Francis; to the Vatican Secretary of State; to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has carried out various peace missions to try to end the conflict; and Bishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine.
In today’s statement, Cardinal Parolin also “recalled the need to safeguard, in the context of the current conflict”, which began in February 2022 with the Russian invasion, “the fundamental human rights enshrined in international conventions and has addressed some issues of a humanitarian nature.”
In particular, the statement concludes, the Secretary of State “referred to assistance to Ukrainian soldiers imprisoned in the Russian Federation and the reciprocal exchange of soldiers detained in Russia and Ukraine.”
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.