Von der Leyen in the Vatican: with the Pope, he talks about the war in Ukraine, the food crisis, and the future of the EU
Vatican City – In her last leg of the Roman visit, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, went to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis. The main theme of the meeting was the war in Ukraine, with particular attention “to the humanitarian aspects and the food consequences of the protracted conflict”.
At the end of the interview, which lasted 20 minutes and took place as usual behind closed doors, the Pontiff gave her a bronze casting depicting two hands shaking, against the background of the colonnade of St. Peter, with a woman with a child and a ship of migrants and the words “Let’s fill the hands of other hands”.
Von der Leyen, for his part, gave a volume on the Bauhaus school and a photo of a project dedicated to urban planning: the president of the European Commission, in fact, presented the New European Bauhaus festival in Rome, which he also spoke about at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a text to propose a new model of environmental sustainability for the construction sector inspired by the artistic movement of the Bauhaus at the beginning of the twentieth century.
As usual, the President of the community executive met the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the “Foreign Minister“ of the Holy See, Msgr. Paul Richard Gallagher. During the course of the “cordial talks – reads a note released by the Press Office of the Holy See – there was a focus on good bilateral relations and the common commitment to work to put an end to the war in Ukraine, paying particular attention to humanitarian aspects and food consequences of the protracted conflict.
In the continuation of the conversation, the conclusions of the Conference on the future of Europe and its consequences on the future structures of the Union were discussed ”.
