As of: March 10, 2024, 4:32 p.m
By: Mark Stoffers
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The outrage over Pope Francis' statements about the war in Ukraine extends beyond the country's borders.
Clear words also come from Germany.
Kiev – Pope Francis is causing incomprehension and resentment around the world with his statements about the war in Ukraine.
In a previously published interview on Swiss television, the head of the Catholic Church apparently called on Ukraine to negotiate with Russia in view of the two-year war.
Pope calls on Ukraine to negotiate peace with Russia: “Courage to raise the white flag”
“When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” the pope said in the interview.
Although the pontiff did not directly name either of the two parties to the conflict, Russia or Ukraine, he added: “Don’t be ashamed to negotiate before it gets even worse.” Before Francis made it clear
elsewhere in an interview with the Swiss broadcaster
RSI
made that “negotiations are never a surrender”.
He is of the opinion that the strength is shown by “whoever recognizes the situation, who thinks about the people, who has the courage to raise the white flag and negotiate,” the Pope continued, obviously addressing Ukraine alone.
Pope Francis calls for peace negotiations with Russia: Ukraine speaks of surrender
In Ukraine, Pope Francis' call for peace negotiations with Russia sparked angry reactions.
Many saw the term “white flag” in particular as a call to surrender to Vladimir Putin and his Russian invasion troops.
“It seems strange that the Pope does not call for the defense of Ukraine, does not condemn Russia as an aggressor that is killing tens of thousands of people,” wrote former MP and Deputy Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko on the X network (formerly Twitter).
The Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See, Andriy Jurasch, asked on X at the weekend whether anyone had seriously discussed peace with Hitler during World War II and waved the white flag to pacify him.
Referring to Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Jurasch added that the lesson from history is: “If we want to end the war, we must do everything we can to slay the dragon!”
“Of little faith”: Pope Francis triggers criticism with the term “white flag”.
The former Ukrainian ambassador to Austria, Olexander Scherba, called Pope Francis a “believer of little faith” using a passage from the Bible.
Kiev officials did not comment.
Ukraine refuses to negotiate as long as Russia does not release the occupied territories.
From Pope Francis' previous statements, Ukrainians already have the feeling that Francis has more understanding for Russia than for their attacked country.
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In her reaction to the Pope's words, Ukrainian human rights activist Oleksandra Matviychuk recalled that a surrender for Ukraine would mean Russian occupation.
This means “torture, sexual violence, forced disappearances, rejection of one’s own identity, forced adoption of one’s own children, filtration camps and mass graves,” said Matviychuk.
Pope Francis calls for peace negotiations in the Ukraine war: “Ashamed of me as a Catholic”
Pope Francis' call for peace negotiations in the Ukraine war also caused consternation in Germany.
The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann clearly contradicted the appeal.
“Before the Ukrainian victims raise the white flag, the Pope should loudly and unmistakably call on the brutal Russian perpetrators to take down their pirate flag – the symbol of death and Satan,” the chairwoman of the Bundestag Defense Committee told the newspapers on Sunday the
Funke media group
.
The statements by Pope Francis (l.) are met with incomprehension by Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP, r.).
© Evandro Inetti/dpa / Michael Kappeler/dpa |
Montage: IPPEN.MEDIA
“And why in God’s name doesn’t he condemn the verbal murderous incitement of Kirill I, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and ex-KGB agent, against the Ukrainian people?” asked Strack-Zimmermann.
She added clearly: “As a Catholic, I am ashamed that he is not doing this.”
Pope's call for peace negotiations in the Ukraine war is causing criticism in Germany
Pope Francis' appeal for peace negotiations in the Ukraine war, which caused great concern during the week, also met with criticism from the Greens.
Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt told the
Editorial Network Germany (RND)
: “Nobody wants peace more than Ukraine.”
There has been war on their territory for ten years and countless people have been killed.
“It is Vladimir Putin who can end the war and the suffering immediately - not Ukraine,” Göring-Eckardt continued.
“Anyone who demands that Ukraine simply surrender is giving the aggressor what he took illegally and thereby accepting the annihilation of Ukraine,” she added.
“Peace will and must be negotiated – but on equal terms.”
Vatican classifies Pope's call for peace negotiations in the Ukraine war
The online portal
Vatican News,
which belongs to the Holy See , distributed a report on Sunday in several languages, including Ukrainian, about a corresponding statement from the Vatican regarding Pope Francis' statements on the Ukraine war.
Accordingly, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni specified that the Pope wanted “above all to call for a ceasefire and to revive the courage to negotiate.”
In the Pope's interview excerpt distributed by the media on Saturday evening, Francis took up the image of the white flag introduced by the interviewer.
The meaning of the statement is that he wants a “diplomatic solution for a just and lasting peace,” said Bruni.
(
with material from dpa and afp
)