THE PRESTIGIOUS ANNUAL AWARD GIVEN TO THE CARDINAL RECOGNIZES NOT ONLY HIS PERSONAL MERIT, BUT ALSO HIS LASTING MORAL WITNESS TO THE HOLY SEE.
Newsroom (05/26/2025 17:24, Gaudium Press) On Monday, May 19, Cardinal Pietro Parolin received an award in recognition of his decades of diplomatic dedication. The award ceremony took place in New York, United States, and was sponsored by the Path to Peace Foundation.
The prestigious annual award given to the Cardinal recognizes not only his personal merit, but also the enduring moral witness of the Holy See. Parolin accepted the honor as a collective recognition of the daily work carried out by the Vatican Secretariat of State, “in the name of the Roman Pontiff, at the service of a more just and reconciled world”.
Legacy of the Catholic Church’s six decades of involvement with the United Nations
The Cardinal took the opportunity to recall the legacy of six decades of involvement of the Catholic Church, through the Popes, with the United Nations. But he also stressed the limits of diplomacy, saying that treaties and resolutions are only scaffolding and that peace is built “in the hidden transformation of human hearts”, in the way nations learn to defend the dignity of the weakest, acting with moral courage and not for political expediency.
During the ceremony, those present were invited to remember that the Catholic Church, through its permanent mission at the UN and its extensive diplomatic efforts, does not have an army or economic influence, but rather a tradition of moral insistence.
Renewing the structure and soul of the United Nations
Finally, Parolin asked the United Nations to continue its own transformation, not only in its structure, but also in its soul. “Renewal must be both moral and institutional. And the fruits of this renewal will not be seen in press releases, but in lives saved, in dignity restored, in a world less afraid of the word peace.”
The Path to Peace Foundation was created in 1991 by Archbishop Renato Raffaele Martino during his time as the Vatican’s Permanent Observer at the United Nations, and was conceived as a bridge between faith and international diplomacy. (EPC)
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
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