Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said that
“all the issues that Italy and the Holy See hold dear were tackled”
during bilateral talks this week, marking the anniversary of the Lateran
Accords that established the status of the Vatican city-state.Cardinal Parolin said that he expressed the concern of the Catholic Church about pending Italian legislation on end-of-life care.
More generally, he said that the Vatican took a keen interest in “social emergencies” such as youth unemployment and migration.
Speaking generally about European affairs, the cardinal told reporters that the Vatican is worried by the trends toward nationalism and populism. “The inability to welcome and integrate can be dangerous,” he said, saying that it is “never a good policy.”
He recognized the tensions within the European community, and suggested that they may point to “an opportune moment to reset the political relationship on a new basis.”