Top Vatican Official Says Holy See Took ‘Necessary Steps’ to Promote Dialogue After Meetings With U.S. and Cuban Officials

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said the Holy See has taken “the necessary steps” to promote dialogue on Cuba after separate meetings with U.S. and Cuban officials as it seeks to encourage a negotiated solution to the island’s crisis.

Parolin told Vatican News that the Holy See had met with Cuba’s foreign minister and acted “always with a view to a dialogue-based solution to the problems that exist.”

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Parolin’s remarks followed a series of diplomatic contacts in Rome regarding the US-Cuba impasse in recent weeks. On February 20, Mike Hammer, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana, and Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, to discuss conditions in Cuba and the Catholic Church’s role on the island.

According to EWTN, Hammer said Cuba was at a decisive moment and expressed hope the country would soon attain “the freedom it has not had in 67 years.”

During the trip, U.S. officials also met with Latin American ambassadors to the Holy See and with representatives of Caritas Internationalis to discuss support for the Cuban people and the role of the Church.

Eight days later, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla traveled to the Vatican as a special envoy of President Miguel Díaz-Canel, as EWTN reports where he met with Pope Leo XIV and Parolin. Afterward, Rodríguez thanked the pope publicly, writing that he was grateful for the audience.

The Vatican has repeatedly played a mediating role between Cuba and the United States, most recently during the Biden administration, where it helped facilitate efforts that led to the release of 553 prisoners in Cuba in exchange for removing the country from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Parolin’s comments on Cuba also fit into a broader Vatican diplomatic approach with the Trump administration. Back in January, The Washington Post reported that Parolin had privately urged restraint in Venezuela and explored possible off-ramps to avoid military escalation, including a possible Russian asylum option for Nicolás Maduro.

“The Holy See speaks with everyone,” Parolin said on Wednesday, describing dialogue as a central feature of Vatican diplomacy.

Originally published on Latin Times