On Wednesday, Pope Francis linked the current suffering of Ukrainians to the “genocide provoked by Stalin” in the 1930s, when the Soviet dictator was accused of causing famine in Ukraine, which would have killed more than 3 million people. .
In remarks at the end of his weekly general audience, Francis renewed calls to prayer for “the terrible suffering of the beloved and martyred people of Ukraine.”
He recalled that Saturday marks the 90th anniversary of the start of the Soviet-era famine known as the Holodomor, which Ukraine commemorates every fourth Saturday in November with a Day of Remembrance.
“Saturday marks the anniversary of the terrible genocide of the Holodomor, Stalin’s artificially caused extermination by starvation in 1932-1933,” Francis said.
Let us pray for the victims of this genocide and let us pray for so many Ukrainians, children, women, the elderly and babies who today suffer the martyrdom of the aggression”, he added.
Francis’ link between the plight of Ukrainian civilians today, under the Russian invasion, to the victims of the famine 90 years ago, and the designation of “genocide” caused by Josef Stalin, marks a sharp escalation in papal rhetoric against Russia????????
Until this year, only 17 countries have officially recognized the Holodomor as genocideaccording to the kyiv Holodomor Museum.
Scholarly opinion remains divided on whether the famine constituted “genocide”, the main question being whether Stalin intentionally wanted to kill Ukrainians as an attempt to quell an independence movement against the Soviet Union, or whether the famine was primarily the result of a combination of officers incompetence with natural conditions.
The Vatican, in its 2004 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, lists Ukrainians, along with Armenians and Jews, as victims of 20th century genocides and says that “attempts to eliminate national, ethnic, Entire religious or linguistic crimes are crimes against God and humanity itself, and those responsible for such crimes must answer for them before justice.”
Francis has repeatedly called for peace and an end to the war, sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine and incessantly asked for prayers for the “martyred” Ukrainian people.
But he has generally refused to blame or even name Russia or President Vladimir Putin, echoing the Kremlin’s complaints that NATO was “barking at his door” in its eastward expansion.
The Vatican has a tradition of not mentioning the perpetrators, believing that behind-the-scenes diplomacy is more effective than public denunciation. The Holy See also wishes to maintain relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, which has strongly supported the Kremlin in the war.
According to the Holomodo Museum, 16 states in addition to Ukraine have recognized the famine as genocide: Australia, Ecuador, Estonia, Canada, Colombia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, the United States, and the Vatican. . . Some other countries, such as Argentina, Chile and Spain, condemned it as “an act of extermination.”
Source: Observadora
