Pope’s ‘white flag’ remark raises hackles in Kyiv
Ukrainian and allied officials yesterday criticised Pope Francis for saying that Kyiv should have the “courage” to negotiate an end to the war with Russia, a statement many interpreted as a call for Ukraine to surrender.
The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Poland, a vocal ally of Kyiv, condemned the pope’s remarks. And a leader of one of Ukraine’s Christian churches yesterday said that only the country’s determined resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, had prevented a mass slaughter of civilians.
In an interview released on Sunday, Francis used the phrase “the courage of the white flag” as he argued that Ukraine, facing a possible defeat, should be open to peace talks brokered by international powers.
“Our flag is blue and yellow. We live, die and win under it,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba posted on social media yesterday.
“We will not raise other flags.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski tweeted: “How about, for balance, encouraging Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Peace would immediately ensue without the need for negotiations.”
In his tweet, Kuleba urged the Holy See to “not repeat historical mistakes” as he alleged that the Vatican didn’t do enough to resist Nazi Germany.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni has clarified that the pope supported “a stop to hostilities [and] a truce achieved with the courage of negotiations”, rather than an outright Ukrainian surrender. Bruni said that the journalist interviewing Francis used the term “white flag” in the question that prompted the controversial remarks.
“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, when asked to weigh in on the debate between those who say that Ukraine should agree to peace talks and those who argue that any negotiations would legitimise Moscow’s aggression.
Kyiv remains firm on not engaging directly with Russia on peace talks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said multiple times that the initiative in peace negotiations must not come from the country that has been invaded.
Throughout the war, Francis has tried to maintain the Vatican’s diplomatic neutrality, but that has often been accompanied by apparent sympathy with the Russian rationale for invading Ukraine, such as when he noted that Nato was “barking at Russia’s door” with its eastward expansion.
In the interview, Francis insisted that “negotiations are never a surrender”.
“When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” he said.
During the Angelus prayer from the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, Francis said that he was praying “for peace in the tormented Ukraine and in the Holy Land”.
“Let the hostilities which cause immense suffering among the civilian population cease as soon as possible,” he said.