Secretary of State Marco Rubio Before His Meeting with Archbishop of Bologna, President of Italian Bishops’ Conference, Papal Envoy for Ukraine Cardinal Matteo Zuppi

U.S. Embassy to the Holy See
Rome, Italy

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, Your Eminence, will you be discussing Ukraine today?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yes, yes, and we thank the Holy See for its willingness to be involved in this process.  Obviously there are a number of countries that have offered that as well, but we think it would be – we’ll talk about that, the status of the talks, the updates after yesterday, and the path forward. 

Thank you.

QUESTION:  Do you think – do you think they can be one of the brokers or the broker in helping get (inaudible)?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I wouldn’t call it a broker but it certainly is a place that I would think that both sides would be comfortable coming.  So we are grateful for their longstanding efforts not simply on trying to broker peace but on the exchanges of prisoners; there are children that have currently been taken from their homes that the Ukrainians would like to see returned, and they, the Holy See, has been very involved in that regard.  So we’ll talk about that and all of it, and obviously always grateful for the willingness of the Vatican to play this constructive and positive role.

Thank you.