Pope Francis is not asking Ukraine to surrender in an interview to a Swiss TV station that is to be broadcast later this month but a portion of which was released on Saturday, but rather calling for a ceasefire and the courage of negotiation, the director of the Vatican press office Matteo Bruni has said.
“The Pope uses the term white flag, and responds by picking up the image proposed by the interviewer, to indicate a cessation of hostilities, a truce reached with the courage of negotiation,” said Bruni of the interview to Lorenzo Buccella of Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS).
“Elsewhere in the interview, speaking of another situation of conflict, but referring to every situation of war, the Pope clearly stated: ‘Negotiations are never a surrender’,” he added.
In the interview, the full version of which was subsequently published on the Vatican News website, Buccella asks the Pope: “In Ukraine, some call for the courage of surrender, of the white flag.
But others say that this would legitimize the stronger party.
What do you think?” “That is one interpretation. But I believe that the stronger one is the one who sees the situation, who thinks of the people, who has the courage of the white flag, to negotiate,” replies Francis.
“And today, negotiations are possible with the help of international powers. The word ‘negotiate’ is a couragous word.
When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, it is necessary to have the courage to negotiate. You may feel ashamed, but with how many deaths will it end? Negotiate in time; look for some country that can mediate,” he continues.
“Today, for example in the war in Ukraine, there are many who want to mediate. Turkey has offered itself for this. And others.
Do not be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse,” concludes the pope.
“The Pope’s hope is and remains that which he has always repeated in these years, and reiterated recently on the occasion of the second anniversary of the conflict: ‘As I renew my very deep affection for the martyred Ukrainian people and pray for all, especially for the many innocent victims, I implore that a little bit of humanity can be found that allows the creation of the conditions for a diplomatic solution in search of a just and lasting peace’,” concluded Bruni.
Ukraine on Sunday rebuffed Pope Francis’s call to negotiate an end to the war with Russia, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the pontiff was engaging in “virtual mediation” and his foreign minister saying Kyiv would never capitulate.
Zelenskiy made no direct reference to Francis or his comments but mentioned religious figures helping inside Ukraine.
“They support us with prayer, with their discussion and with deeds. This is indeed what a church with the people is,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
“Not 2,500 km away, somewhere, virtual mediation between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you.”
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, writing on the X messaging platform, said that the strong person in any dispute “stands on the side of good rather than attempting to put them on the same footing and call it ‘negotiations'”.
“Our flag is a yellow and blue one,” Kuleba wrote in English, referring to the Ukrainian national flag. “This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags.”
Kuleba also pointed to allegations that Pope Pius XII failed to act against the Nazis in Germany in World War Two.
“I urge (the Vatican) to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine and its people in their just struggle for their lives,” he wrote.
That was a reference to longstanding arguments that Pius took no action despite evidence that emerged during the war of the extent of the Holocaust. A letter made public last year from the Vatican archives appeared to show that Pius was made aware of details of Nazi actions to exterminate Jews as early as 1942.
Supporters of Pius say he worked behind the scenes to help Jews and did not speak out in order to prevent worsening the situation for Catholics in Nazi-occupied Europe. His detractors say he lacked the courage to speak out on information he had despite pleas from Allied powers fighting Germany.
The head of Ukraine’s 5 million-strong Eastern Rite Catholic Church, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, also rejected the pope’s comments.
“Ukraine is wounded, but not conquered! Ukraine is exhausted, but it stands and will stand!” the church’s website quoted Shevchuk as saying in New York.
“Believe me, no one has any idea of surrendering.”
Zelenskiy has called for the withdrawal of all Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders. The Kremlin rules out engaging in talks on terms set by Kyiv.
