«The first day of the war I called Ukrainian President Zelensky on the phone, but Putin didn’t call him. I heard it in December for my birthday but this time no, I didn’t call. I wanted to make a clear gesture for the whole world to see and for this I went to the Russian ambassador. I asked them to explain, I said “please stop”. Then I asked Cardinal Parolin, after twenty days of war, to send Putin the message that I was willing to go to Moscow. Of course, it was necessary for the Kremlin leader to allow a few windows. We have not yet received an answer and we are still insisting, even if I fear that Putin cannot and does not want to have this meeting right now. But so much brutality how can you not stop it? Twenty-five years ago we experienced the same thing with Rwanda ».
In conversation with the Corriere della Sera, Pope Francis lined up all the Church’s attempts to at least obtain a ceasefire in Ukraine, repeating several times that he is ready to go to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Bergoglio’s concern is that Putin, for the moment, will not stop. Perhaps the “barking of NATO at Russia’s door” prompted the Kremlin leader to react badly and trigger the conflict. “An anger that I don’t know if it was provoked, but perhaps eased, yes,” he comments.
And then there is the big question of the supply of weapons by Western nations to the Ukrainian resistance. An issue that splits the Catholic and the pacifist world. “I cannot answer, I am too far away, to the question of whether it is right to supply the Ukrainians”, comments the Pontiff. “The clear thing is that weapons are being tested in that land. The Russians now know that tanks are of little use and are thinking of other things. Wars are fought for this: to test the weapons we have produced. This was the case in the Spanish Civil War before the Second World War. The arms trade is a scandal, few oppose it. Two or three years ago a ship loaded with weapons arrived in Genoa which had to be transferred to a large cargo ship to transport them to Yemen. The port workers did not want to do it. They said: let’s think of the children of Yemen. It’s a small thing, but a nice gesture. There should be so many like that. “
Many asked him for the symbolic gesture of a visit to Ukraine. But the answer is clear: «I’m not going to Kiev for now. I sent Cardinal Michael Czerny, (prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, ed) and Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, (almsgiver of the Pope, ed) who went there for the fourth time. But I feel I don’t have to go. First I have to go to Moscow, first I have to meet Putin. But I’m a priest too, what can I do? I do what I can. If Putin opened the door… ».
Of course, Francis admits, Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, cannot be the man who can persuade the Kremlin leader to open a window. “I spoke to Kirill 40 minutes via Zoom. The first twenty with a card in hand he read me all the justifications for the war. I listened and told him: I don’t understand anything about this. Brother, we are not clerics of state, we cannot use the language of politics, but that of Jesus. We are shepherds of the same holy people of God. For this we must seek ways of peace, to put an end to the firing of weapons. The Patriarch cannot transform himself into Putin’s altar boy. I had an scheduled meeting with him in Jerusalem on June 14th. It would be our second face to face, nothing to do with the war. But now he too agrees: let’s stop, it could be an ambiguous signal ».
For the Pontiff, we are in a situation that can really lead to a world war. “My alarm was not a merit, but only the observation of reality: Syria, Yemen, Iraq, in Africa one war after another. There are international interests in every bit. One cannot think that a free state can wage war on another free state. In Ukraine it was the others who created the conflict. The only thing that is blamed on the Ukrainians is that they reacted in the Donbass, but let’s talk about ten years ago. That argument is old. Of course they are a proud people. For example, when for the Via Crucis there were two women, one Russian and the other Ukrainian, who had to read the prayer together, they made it a scandal. So I called Krajewski who was there and he said to me: stop, don’t read the prayer. They are right, even if we don’t fully understand. So they remained silent. They have a susceptibility, they feel defeated or enslaved because in the Second World War they paid so much. So many dead men, it is a martyr people. But we are also attentive to what can happen now in Transnistria ».
Bergoglio seems pessimistic. “For peace there is not enough will, war is terrible and we have to shout it out,” he says. “Orbán, when I met him he told me that the Russians have a plan, that on May 9th it will all be over. I hope that is the case, so we would also understand the speed of the escalation of these days. Because now it’s not just the Donbass, it’s Crimea, it’s Odessa, it’s taking away the Black Sea port from Ukraine, that’s all. I am pessimistic, but we must make every possible gesture to stop the war ».
The gaze is also turned to the actions that our country can implement. “Italy is doing a good job,” says the Pontiff. «The relationship with Mario Draghi is good, it is very good. In the past, when he was at the European Central Bank, I asked him for advice. He is a direct and simple person. I admired Giorgio Napolitano, who is great, and now I admire Sergio Mattarella very much. I respect Emma Bonino a lot: I don’t share his ideas but he knows Africa better than anyone. In front of this woman I say, chapeau“.
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