ROME-Pope Francis said on Tuesday that while describing the Russia-Ukraine war as “absurd”, each war “signifies a lack of human ability to protect”.
Speaking to a group of Italian National Civil Protection Service volunteers at the Vatican, the Pope praised their work, particularly their humanitarian assistance, and the “reception in Italy of refugees from Ukraine, especially women and children fleeing this ridiculous war.”
“Thank you for what you’ve done and keep doing it quietly. Good deeds don’t make a sound, they create peace,” he said.
“No more war!” Francis described the war in Ukraine as “a rejection of what is written in the official resolutions of the United Nations” and emphasized the “people’s holy right to peace”.
Pope Francis VI of the Vatican on April 6, 2022. (via Getty Images ANDRES SOLARO/AFP)
“The emergencies with these people, which includes refugees fleeing wars or climate change, remind us how important it is to know someone who helps, smiles, is free. It takes time,” he said.
Francis was initially critical of the war, but did not blame either side, preferring a more diplomatic tone to his comments.
As Vatican veteran John L. Allen Jr. said. Last week, the Pope’s statements about the war “seemed almost deliberately calculated to keep people guessing.”
As evidence, Allen cited an interview on May 2 where “Francis suggested that the war could have started because of ‘NATO barking at Russia’s door'”.
Pope Francis: “The time has come to abolish war, to erase it from human history.” https://t.co/ydRUUroX2a
– Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 28, 2022
“Francis was photographed kissing a Ukrainian flag in the alleged war crimes site of Bucha, but did not refer to ‘Russia’ or ‘Putin’ as the aggressor,” Allen said.
Pope Francis suggested in an interview that he could not say whether Putin had “provoked” NATO’s possible expansion, but “could have contributed to it”.
Source: Breitbart
