In the Catholic Peace Weekly, a columnist gives the readers an account of the recent establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.
With the establishment of relations between Korea and Cuba, the Vatican's mediation diplomacy is once again attracting attention. As it is a diplomatic matter, there is no specific information about what role the Vatican played.
A former Minister of Foreign Affairs said in an interview that there was a lot of help and lateral support from friendly countries. He mentioned Mexico, the United Nations, and the Vatican as allies who helped. He especially introduced that the Vatican showed special interest in Cuba because it is a Catholic country.
In Cuba, an island nation in Central and South America, 85% of the total population (11.17 million people) are Catholic. Since Fidel Castro took power in 1959, it has not escaped the limitations of socialism. After the revolution, the Castro regime pursued atheistic communism and oppressed the church. However, starting in the late 1980s, Castro acknowledged the existence of the church, and the relationship between the government and the church became considerably smoother than in the past.
However, this fact was revealed in an extremely exceptional situation in the diplomatic history of the Holy See. The former Korean ambassador to the Vatican, said, the Vatican does not issue a single press release even when it accomplishes something that will remain in world history. Therefore, most of the achievements of the Holy See’s diplomacy are only talked about ‘behind the scenes’ stories. This is to thoroughly consider and respect the parties involved in mediation and neighboring countries.
The Vatican pursues universal peace based on justice and love, promotes harmony and cooperation between church and state, and thoroughly emphasizes basic human rights. As a mediator of disputes and conflicts, the Vatican refrains from providing unilateral support and maintains complete neutrality in international organizations. To this end, the Vatican's diplomat candidate priests are dispatched to local churches for a year to gain missionary experience.
The Vatican currently has diplomatic relations with 183 countries. Regardless of religion or ideology, they carefully and persistently build diplomatic and missionary bridges with any country where there are Christians. The diplomatic activities of the Holy See are different from the diplomacy of individual countries that prioritize their own interests. They do not reject requests for mediation for peace and actively mediate between the other countries even without a request.
It cannot be denied that the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Cuba is a great achievement that expanded the horizons of Korean diplomacy through close cooperation and multifaceted efforts of relevant ministries, as explained by the President's Office.
However, the proposal to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba was first made in the 2000s. Both progressive and conservative regimes attempted to improve relations with Cuba and made great efforts. Therefore, this establishment of diplomatic relations was not a short-term achievement, but rather an accumulated achievement of Korea's diplomacy over the years.
The establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Cuba was because both countries needed each other for their national interests.
