We “do not see the whole drama unfolding behind this war, which was perhaps somehow either provoked or not prevented,” said Francis.
QUICK FACTS:
- Pope Francis in an interview published on La Civilta Cattolica on Tuesday warned not to depict the Russia-Ukraine conflict in simplistic terms like “good guys” versus “bad guys.”
- The interviewer had asked the Pope for suggestions on how to communicate the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Francis responded, “To answer this question we have to move away from the normal pattern of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’: Little Red Riding Hood was good and the wolf was the bad guy. Here there are no metaphysical good guys and bad guys, in an abstract sense.”
- Francis went on to note when a “wise” head of state had explained he was “very concerned about the way NATO was moving” in relation to Russia. “I asked him why,” the Pope told the interviewer, “and he said, ‘They are barking at the gates of Russia. They do not understand that the Russians are imperialists and will allow no foreign power to approach them.'”
- The Pope admitted the “brutality and ferocity” with which the war is being carried out by the Russians, but also cautioned that “we do not see the whole drama unfolding behind this war, which was perhaps somehow either provoked or not prevented.”
POPE NOT “PRO-PUTIN”:
“Someone may say to me at this point: so you are pro-Putin! No, I am not,” said Pope Francis. “It would be simplistic and wrong to say such a thing. I am simply against reducing complexity to the distinction between good guys and bad guys without reasoning about roots and interests, which are very complex. While we see the ferocity, the cruelty of Russian troops, we must not forget the real problems if we want them to be solved.”
BACKGROUND:
- In May, Pope Francis remarked that the real “scandal” of Putin’s military operation in Ukraine is “NATO barking at Russia’s door,” which he said caused Russia to “react badly and unleash the conflict.”
- When Francis was asked whether it is right to supply Ukraine with military weapons, he replied: “I don’t know how to answer—I’m too far away—the question of whether it is right to supply the Ukrainians.”
- The Pope went on to say the “clear thing is that weapons are being tested there. The Russians now know that tanks are of little use and are thinking of other things. This is why wars are waged: to test the weapons we have produced. Few people are fighting this trade, but more should be done.”
