"He who sees the situation, who thinks of the people, who has the courage of the white flag, to negotiate, is stronger. Today we can negotiate with the help of international powers. The word negotiate is courageous.
When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, we need to have the courage to negotiate. You are ashamed, but with how many deaths will it end? Negotiate in time, look for some country to act as mediator. In the war in Ukraine, there are many. Turkey has offered . And others. Don't be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse."
Pope Francis says this in an interview with Swiss Radio and Television.
When asked if he himself proposed to negotiate in the current conflicts, the Pope replies: "I am here, period. I sent a letter to the Jews of Israel to reflect on this situation. Negotiation is never a surrender. It is the courage to not lead the country to suicide. The Ukrainians, with the history that, poor things, the Ukrainians have suffered in Stalin's time....".
The Pope then reiterates his philosophy on the origins of wars: "behind it there is always the arms industry".
"This is a collective sin - says Francis -. The bursar told me, a month ago, he gave me the report on how things were in the Vatican, always in deficit, do you know where today there are the investments that give the most income? The weapons factory. You earn to kill. More income: the weapons factory.
The war is terrible."
"I always say this - he adds -: when I was at the Redipuglia in 2014 I cried. Then the same happened to me in Anzio, then every 2 November I go to celebrate in a cemetery. The last time I went to the British cemetery and I looked at the age of the children. I have already said this, but I repeat it: when there was the commemoration of the Normandy landings, all the heads of government celebrated that date but no one said that they remained on that beach as many as 20 thousand kids".
The Pope, 'the war of two irresponsible people in Gaza'
"Every day at seven in the afternoon I call the parish of Gaza. Six hundred people live there and tell what they see: it's a war. And the war is made by two people, not one. The irresponsible ones are these two who make the war. Then there's no 'It's only the military war, there is the 'guerrilla war', so to speak, of Hamas, a movement that is not an army. It's a bad thing."
Pope Francis says this in an interview with Swiss Radio and Television broadcast on March 20 and of which a preview was given.
However, when asked whether we should not lose hope of trying to mediate, he replies: "Let's look at history, the wars we have experienced, they all end with an agreement".
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