On Saturday morning at the Vatican Pope Francis met with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who spoke to Vatican News in this exclusive interview. https://www.eudebates.tv/ During their private meeting, Pope Francis and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted the good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the European Union, including the initiatives underway to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
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A statement by the Holy See Press Office also mentioned their discussions on human and social development issues affecting the continent, also in view of the recently launched Conference on the Future of Europe. Both leaders also looked at other issues of common interest, such as the social consequences of the pandemic, and the topics of migration, climate change, and recent developments in the Middle East.
Von der Leyen later met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, accompanied by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.
Vatican News’ Mario Galgano met up with Ursula von der Leyen and asked her a number of questions on these topics.
With 50 years of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the European Union, how are the relations today between the Vatican and the EU?
The relations between the Holy See, the Vatican, and the European Union are excellent. And 50 years this shows how much we are like-minded. The good cooperation is basically based on sharing the same values, working for peace, for solidarity, for the dignity of the human being. These are shared values and more of them (others too). And of course, we are following very closely the grand topic of the Vatican, the globalization of solidarity, very close to our hearts. And we are very grateful for the interest of the Vatican in our Conference on the Future of Europe. So these are just a few topics that show how intense, how good the relations are.
We are living in a very difficult time today with the pandemic. The European Union supports the Holy Father’s appeals regarding fair distribution of vaccines through COVAX. How will the European Commission continue its efforts to tackle the global health crisis?
We all know that nobody will safe until everybody is safe, and all people must have access to affordable, safe, and effective vaccines. There are different routes you can choose. The European Union, through all the difficulties we had in securing vaccines, stuck to the principle that half of the European production is going to other countries. It is 90 different countries where European production is going to, that is one part.