The Head of Vatican Diplomacy Answers Questions on Recent News Stories

The prelate shared his hopes for the situation in Korea, his worries for Syria, and spoke of the patience needed in the negotiations with China and his sadness at the programed death of young Alfie Evans.

When questioned on Korea, the second-highest ranking prelate in the Vatican voiced his “great hope” for lasting peace in the region. Kim Jong Un has, according to the high-ranking prelate, “used his country's nuclear war potential as a threat to force Americans to negotiate in order to bring North Korea out of its isolation and above all to start the economic growth that the country so badly needs.”

In answer to the question on China, Cardinal Parolin explained that things are “proceeding”, but added that “if the government were not Communist and respected religious freedom, there would be no need to negotiate.”

The Holy See’s goal in the negotiations with China is “unity” and “freedom” for the Church; she should be able to “live a normal life that is also in communion with the Pope. This communion is fundamental for our Faith,” declared Cardinal Parolin. This “normal life” the high-ranking diplomat wishes for seems terribly compromised for the time being, with the repeated vexations Chinese Catholics have been subjected to ever since the recent reelection of Xi Jinping as president.

The Holy See Secretary of State considers the situation in Syria a matter of “great concern”; he insisted that even if the war against the Islamic State or the rebels is won, “peace will not be automatic, because the country will be left with so much hatred, so many contrasts, so many divisions.”

When questioned about Alfie Evans, the little boy with a degenerative neurological condition who died in Liverpool after permission was refused to transfer him to the Bambino Gesú hospital, Cardinal Parolin said, “It caused me enormous sadness” when they refused the sick child’s transfer to Rome although the Italian government and the parents were requesting it. “It upset me. I cannot understand why,” declared the diplomat, adding that right up until the end and in spite of the stubbornness of the British judges, the Pope and the Holy See “tried to do everything possible to help the family and to ensure that the child was accompanied during the course of his illness, despite the unfortunate prognosis.”