By Elise Harris
Vatican City, Dec 2, 2016 / 07:58 am
While he was in town for a global meeting on the crisis in the Mediterranean region, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stopped by the Vatican for a meeting with Pope Francis that likely centered largely on the challenges of migration.
Kerry is currently in Rome for the three-day "Rome Med – Mediterranean Dialogues" meeting, which this year runs Dec. 1-3. The second annual event is a high-level initiative of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI).
The main purpose of the gathering is to draft a "positive agenda" for the Mediterranean region given the current challenges by coming up with new ideas and rethinking traditional approaches at both the local and international levels.
According to the website, this year's meeting will focus on how the Mediterranean has increasingly become "the epicenter of international disorder," and seems to now be "synonymous" with conflict, instability, terrorism and mass migration.
A description of the meeting, titled "Beyond Turmoil. A Positive Agenda," said leaders "are called upon to define a long-term, comprehensive strategy to stabilize the region: this should become Europe's new historic mission."
The first priority they highlighted was "the defeat of Daesh (ISIS) and of violent extremism," while another goal is to look beyond the mayhem and "imagine a new regional order, built through diplomacy, ownership, resilience, partnership, governance and co-development."
When looking to the Mediterranean, the meeting description emphasized, it is important to see not just an area of crisis and instability, but also opportunities for Europe's future which must be discussed and clarified in a "positive agenda" for the entire region, including Africa.
Filled with various meetings and workshops, the Rome Med meeting is set on four pillars: Shared Prosperity, Shared Security, Migration, Media, and Culture and Society.
More than 500 leaders from 55 nations around the world are present for the event, including nations such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Tunisia, Spain, Syria, Belgium, Sudan, Iran, Lebanon, Nigeria, France, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, China, Turkey and the UK, among others.
During his visit, Kerry also met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Secretary for Relations with the States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
The last time Kerry visited the Vatican was Jan. 14, 2014, ahead of the Pope's trip to the United States. He had been on an international diplomatic tour to promote an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord and was also working for the success of the Geneva 2 Conference for peace in Syria.
Kerry's meeting with Francis at the time focused largely on the Middle East, the Syrian conflict, the Sudan situation and religious freedom issues in the U.S.
