In a conversation with journalists on the sidelines of a Jubilee event for digital influencers on July 28, Card-inal Parolin emphasizes the importance of recog-nizing two states, Israel and Palestine, “living side by side, independently but also in coope-ration and security.”
The Holy See has “already recognized” Pa-lestine for some time. Following French President Emmanuel Ma-cron’s announcement that France will recog-nize the State of Palestine in September, during the annual session of the United Nations General Assem-bly in New York, the issue returned to the forefront in the words of the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
In response to a question about claims that recognizing the State of Palestine is “premature,” Cardinal Parolin replied: “Why premature? In our view, the solution lies in direct dialogue between the two sides aimed at establishing two autonomous state entities.”
He acknowledged, however, that the situa-tion is becoming in-creasingly difficult – particularly due to the developments in the West Bank – referring to Israeli settlements there: “This certainly does not help, from a practical standpoint, the realization of the Palestinian State.”
(Vatican News)
- H.E. Pietro Cardinal Parolin
Secretary of State
