If you didn’t know any better, you might think that Pope Francis was no longer welcome in Ukraine. His recent interview with a Swiss broadcaster, excerpts of which were released over the weekend, has caused a whirlwind of disappointment and anger in Ukrainian policy circles as well as with some of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in the West.
The subject of derision: whether Ukraine should do a little less fighting and a lot more talking. Asked to comment about the debate between those who seek a negotiated end to Russia’s two-year-long war in Ukraine and those who oppose such a stance, Pope Francis chose the side of dialogue. “I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates,” Francis said in an English transcript. “The word ‘negotiate’ is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate.”
None of this should have been a surprise. Pope Francis has been singing the same tune ever since Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Last spring, the Vatican got involved in back-channel diplomacy between Kyiv and Moscow, and Francis met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican last May to discuss Kyiv’s own peace plan. Neither peace initiative stuck; Zelensky’s version centers on a unrealistic Russian surrender, whereas the Vatican’s fizzled out. None of this has dampened the Catholic Church’s desire for peace talks and an end to the war.
Even so, Francis’s remarks became of a bit of a scandal, unleashing significant pushback from the Ukrainians, Poland and the NATO secretary-general. The Ukrainian foreign minister took umbrage at the reference to the “white flag,” which connotes surrender. “Russian murderers and torturers are unable to march farther into Europe only because they are being held back by Ukrainians holding arms under the blue-and-yellow flag,” Zelensky commented, without mentioning the Pope’s name. Instead of talking about the courage of negotiating, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorsky, urged the Vatican to instead talk about how Russia should show courage by withdrawing its forces. NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg was just as emphatic: “Surrender is not peace. Putin started this war and can end it today.”
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