Pope Francis has said that the war in Ukraine was “perhaps somehow provoked” by NATO’s expansion east — as he denounced the “ferocity and cruelty” of Russian forces.
“We do not see the whole drama unfolding behind this war, which was perhaps somehow either provoked or not prevented,” the pontiff said during a conversation he had last month with editors of Jesuit media, which was published Tuesday. “And I register an interest in testing and selling weapons. It is very sad, but basically this is what is at stake.”
Asking himself rhetorically if that made him “pro-Putin,” he said: “No, I am not. It would be simplistic and wrong to say such a thing.”
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church explained that he was “simply against reducing complexity to the distinction between good and bad, without thinking about roots and interests, which are very complex.”
A Donetsk People’s Republic militia’s multiple rocket launcher fires from its position not far from Panteleimonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine. AP
A woman runs from a house that’s on fire after shelling in Donetsk. APWhile condemning “the ferocity, the cruelty of Russian troops, we must not forget the real problems if we want them to be solved,” Francis said, including the armaments industry among the factors that provide incentives for war.
In his talk with the editors of the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, Pope Francis revealed that several months before Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, the pontiff met with a head of state who said that NATO was “barking at the gates of Russia” in a way that could lead to war.
According to Francis, the head of state, whom he declined to name, said that NATO countries “do not understand that the Russians are imperial and do not allow any foreign power to approach them.”
A Ukrainian serviceman patrols a village near the frontline in the Donetsk oblast region, eastern Ukraine. APIn his remarks, the pontiff also praised “brave” Ukrainians struggling for their survival.
“This is what moves us: to see such heroism,” he said. “I would really like to emphasize this point, the heroism of the Ukrainian people. What is before our eyes is a situation of world war, global interests, arms sales and geopolitical appropriation, which is martyring a heroic people.”
Francis described Ukraine as “an expert in suffering slavery and war. It is a rich country that has always been cut up, torn apart by the will of those who want to take it over and exploit it.”
Ukrainian tanks move in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. APIn a separate message for the Roman Catholic Church’s upcoming World Day of the Poor, Francis lamented that Ukraine had been added to a list of regional wars.
“Yet here the situation is even more complex due to the direct intervention of a ‘superpower’ aimed at imposing its own will in violation of the principle of the self-determination of peoples,” he said.
With Post wires
