The Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who has been a nuncio in the Baltic States since 2024, has late spoken about the disillusionment of these countries with the policies of the current U.S. administration towards the conflict in Ukraine.
The erstwhile secretary of Pope Benedict XVI pointed out that the Baltic states expected something different after the administration of Donald Trump. In an interview given on 13 June this year to Rudolf Gehrig from EWTN News and CNA Deutsch, a German-speaking news partner of Catholic News Agency, the clergyman stressed that the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are powerfully felt in the capital of Lithuania. At the same time, he, as a Vatican nuncio, can do nothing circumstantial and it is the Holy See that sets its policy towards the disputed states.
– The Holy See is simply a bridge builder. It was 1 of the first words of the fresh Pope: peace. “Peace be with you!”said the clergyman.
Nuntius told us that in these matters “many things are done”, but “there is no way to say now whether all of this is going to work.” In any case, as he argued, the “drop digs the rock” and the archbishop surely will not quit his peace effort.
The clergyman spoke of “the distrust of the Russians, especially the “[President Vladimir] Putin” felt among the Baltic people. At the same time, he pointed out that Russia's war against Ukraine had hampered ecumenical dialog with Orthodox churches. He recalled that the Orthodox Church in the Baltic States, subordinate to the Patriarchate of Moscow, turned distant from the Moscow patriarch Cyril I, who tried to justify the war through religion.
– How can a patriarch support a war? This is actually a fratricidal war, i.e. Orthodox war against Orthodox ones; how can it support it? – the Vatican hierarchy was surprised. – This is simply a fresh point of contention, which is why it is crucial not to cut strings – due to the fact that these are no longer bridges – but to sustain them - He does.
While Catholics represent 80% of the population in Lithuania, in Latvia the number of Orthodox people is about equal to the number of Catholics and is 20%. In Estonia, as many as one-fifth of the population is of Russian origin, which is not without affecting the public's attitude towards war.
On 16 March 2022, at the request of the Russian Patriarch, a video-conference took place with the participation of Pope Francis. It was besides attended by Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, who later reported in an EWTN interview News that “the pope spoke very clearly erstwhile he told the patriarchs: “We are not state clergymen, we are shepherds of the people. Therefore, it must be our occupation to end this war.” Archbishop Gänswein believes that the Vatican is inactive needed as a mediator.
He besides mentioned his disagreements with the erstwhile Pope, which were to be resolved in January 2024 erstwhile he was on an audience with Francis. Gänswein was suspended as Prefect of the Papal home in early 2020, and on December 31, 2022 Pope Francis sent the Archbishop back to his household diocese in Freiburg, Germany. little than a year later, in June 2024, Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The present nuntius says that “it was not so that he broke up in a bad relationship” with Francis. He explained that the gathering with the Pope in early January 2024, his appointment as nuncio in June of the same year, and another audience as nuncio in November 2024 "restored his interior peace." A fresh visit to Francis' grave to pray for his soul "completed reconciliation."
Source: catholicnewsagency.com
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