(OSV News) — Amid ongoing and potentially escalating conflict in both the Middle East and Ukraine, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin cautioned gathered delegates at the 79th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York September 28 that, “peace is only possible if it is wanted.”

While it was earlier rumored that Pope Francis might address the assembly, the pontiff was instead in the middle of his 46th Apostolic Journey abroad, to Luxembourg and Belgium.

Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) — an independent organization collecting data on violent conflict — estimates that one in seven people globally have been exposed to conflict so far in 2024. ACLED also reported a 15% increase in political violence incidents during the last 12 months, a development that Cardinal Parolin said has left the Holy See “deeply concerned.”

The Holy See — the world’s smallest country and the spiritual and diplomatic center of Catholicism and its 1.3 billion followers — has permanent observer status at the United Nations, with 2024 marking the 60th anniversary of its presence at the organization tasked with maintaining international peace and security.

During that time, Cardinal Parolin declared that “the Holy See has advanced a set of core principles, including the respect for the inherent God-given human dignity of all individuals, the equal sovereignty of states, the pursuit of peace and disarmament, and the care of our common home.”

Cardinal Parolin — who has been in the diplomatic service of the Vatican for over three decades — cited the root causes of war as fuel for its spread, most prominently “hunger, a scourge that continues to afflict entire areas of our world while others are marked by massive waste of food.”

He further decried the relegation of poverty in “international political and economic fora” as “an afterthought … or even as a mere collateral damage” while military expenditures rise.

Cardinal Parolin urged the assembly to “start acting now, especially by taking care of those who could be easily left behind.”

Echoing Pope Francis — who has said “the path to peace calls for respect for life, for every human life, starting with the life of the unborn child in the mother’s womb” — Cardinal Parolin called for the protection of humanity from the moment of conception to natural death, further denouncing the trend of surrogacy and the “continued spread of a culture of death, which, in the name of false compassion, discards children, the elderly and the sick.”

The secretary of state also asked that the dignity of migrants be upheld and noted the “alarming rate” of the growth of human trafficking, which he said disproportionately impacts refugees, migrants, women and children, and young people.

Cardinal Parolin also highlighted climate change, saying that the “care for our common home necessitates that the commitments taken over the years to combat climate change are translated into action.”

Both the possibilities and the detriments of technological advances were also emphasized, with Cardinal Parolin citing “an urgent need for a comprehensive ethical reflection involving all states on the utilization of emerging technologies, particularly within the military domain. There is a necessity for the establishment of a binding ethical and regulatory framework to be negotiated, both within the non-military and military domains.”

He also stressed the remaining threat of nuclear weapons and the Holy See’s conviction that “a world free from nuclear weapons is both necessary and possible,” while noting Pope Francis’ conviction that “we are witnessing a third world war fought piecemeal.”

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine “calls for urgent action to prevent further escalation and to create a path towards a just and peaceful resolution,” the cardinal said while announcing the Holy See “calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the West Bank, as well as the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.” Cardinal Parolin said the escalating situation in Lebanon requires “a robust Christian voice to steer the nation through this unparalleled crisis.”

Cardinal Parolin also mentioned humanitarian crises in Syria, Sudan, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, and Myanmar, urging the international community to do more to bring peace and stability to these nations.

He also noted the jihadist targeting of Christians in West Africa — a situation worsened by climate change — as well as “measures taken against personnel and institutions of the Church” by the Nicaraguan government of President Daniel Ortega, which in August extinguished the legal status of more than 25 Catholic organizations.

Cardinal Parolin suggested democracy is an instrument to foster peace, but cautioned that “a democracy that lacks a clearly defined set of values is susceptible to becoming an open or covert totalitarian regime.”

Freedom House — the oldest American organization devoted to the support and defense of democracy worldwide — notes in its report Freedom in the World 2024: The Mounting Damage of Flawed Elections and Armed Conflict that “global freedom declined for the 18th consecutive year in 2023. Political rights and civil liberties were diminished in 52 countries, while only 21 countries made improvements.”

Cardinal Parolin criticized “ideological colonization,” including gender theory, which he said — quoting Pope Francis — introduces “new rights that are neither fully consistent with those originally defined nor always acceptable” and “create divisions between states, rather than fostering peace.”
Religious freedom is also, said the secretary of state, a casualty of conflict.

He noted that “almost 4.9 billion people live in countries where there are serious or very serious violations of religious freedom” and that “approximately one in seven Christians (over 365 million individuals) are subjected to significant levels of persecution on the grounds of their religious beliefs.” More Christians than ever before, Cardinal Parolin said, are suffering violent attacks.

Saying the Holy See supports the work of the United Nations, Cardinal Parolin concluded his address to the Assembly by calling the delegates to go “back to basics, to the spirit which inspired the founding members of this Organization, that is a forum of open dialogue and exchange of ideas in order to leave a better and more peaceful world.”

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Kimberley Heatherington writes for OSV News from Virginia.