Rome, Italy
Reuters
The Vatican’s secretary of state on Wednesday condemned the reported bombing of a children’s hospital in the besieged port of Mariupol in Ukraine.
The Mariupol city council said the hospital had been hit several times by a Russian air strike, causing “colossal” destruction.
Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin leads a mass on Ash Wednesday in Rome, Italy, on 2nd March, 2022. PICTURE: Reuters/Remo Casilli/File photo.
The bombing, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called an “atrocity”, took place despite an agreed ceasefire to enable thousands of civilians trapped in the city to escape.
Mariupol city council said the hospital had been hit several times by an air strike, causing “colossal” destruction. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Russian forces do not fire on civilian targets.
The Donetsk region’s governor said 17 people were wounded, including women in labour. The reports could not be immediately verified.
“I say bombing a hospital is unacceptable. There are no reasons, there are no motivations, to do this,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin told journalists who asked him at a conference in Rome about the reported bombing.
“The first version that was given for this war was that it was a military operation aimed only at destroying military installations in Ukraine in order to guarantee the security of Russia. Bombing a hospital for children, a paediatric hospital, has nothing to do with this purpose,” Parolin said.
On Sunday, Pope Francis implicitly rejected Russia’s use of the term “special military operation” for its invasion of Ukraine, saying the country was being battered by war and urging an immediate end to the fighting.
Parolin, who ranks second only to the pope in the Vatican hierarchy, spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, telling him that the Holy See wanted armed attacks in Ukraine to stop and humanitarian corridors to be guaranteed.
“I am very worried, first of all by what is happening, because it has become an all-out war,” Parolin said on Wednesday, adding that his conversation with Lavrov on Tuesday lasted more than 30 minutes.
Parolin said Lavrov “did not give me any guarantees”.
Ukraine has said it would welcome Vatican mediation and Parolin has said previously it is willing to “facilitate” dialogue” between Russia and Ukraine.
“There has to be openness on everyone’s part because only if there is willingness to really negotiate and find agreements can the problems be resolved,” Parolin said.
“If everyone clings to their positions, nothing can be done. The war will continue and become ever more deadly, and with the prospect, God help us, that it could even spread. I hope not, I hope not,” he said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday there were few things more depraved than the targeting of vulnerable and defenceless people, after Ukraine accused Russia of bombing a children’s hospital in the port city of Mariupol.
“There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenceless,” Johnson said on Twitter.
“The UK is exploring more support for Ukraine to defend against airstrikes and we will hold Putin to account for his terrible crimes.”
– With KATE HOLTON and HUMEYRA PAMUK in Washington DC, US.
