Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, said on March 7 that the Holy See is willing “to help in every way to stop the weapons and the violence and to negotiate a solution.”

“What needs to be done now, first of all, is to stop the weapons and the fighting, but above all an escalation,” he said in an interview with the Italian bishops’ TV2000. “And the first escalation is verbal.”

“The religious level is that of inviting an insistent prayer that God may grant peace to that tormented land and involve believers in this choral prayer,” he added, as spoke of the Holy See’s work for peace. “Then there is the humanitarian aspect, above all through Caritas and the dioceses that are very committed to receiving refugees from Ukraine. And then there is the availability of initiatives on the diplomatic level.”