“War is a failure of politics and humanity”: Pope declares Putin’s invasion of Ukraine a “shameful capitulation” as he tweets in Russian on the second day of the conflict and visits the embassy to “express his concern”
- The pope ruled after a visit to the Russian embassy in an unprecedented move
- He tweeted that “Every war makes our world worse” in English and Russian
- Pope Francis met with Putin before in a private audience at the Vatican in 2015
The Pope intervened invasion of Ukrainedescribing the war as a “shameful capitulation”, just hours after an unprecedented visit to the Russian embassy.
In a tweet in Russian on Friday Pope Francisc condemned the evils of the conflict on the second day of Russia’s large-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
He wrote in separate English and Russian tweets: “Every war leaves our world worse than it was before.
“War is a failure of politics and humanity, a shameful capitulation, a pitiful defeat before the forces of evil.”
Earlier on Friday, Pope Francis went to the Russian embassy at the Holy See to convey to the Moscow ambassador his concerns about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an unprecedented deviation from diplomatic protocol.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope had spent more than half an hour at the embassy.
Pope Francis met with Putin before in a private audience in 2015
Firefighters are trying to put out a fire in a damaged apartment building on Kosice Street, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, earlier today
Residential building damaged by a rocket on February 25, 2022 in Kiev, Ukraine earlier today
“He went to express his concern about the war,” Bruni said, declining to give details of the visit or conversation.
Bruni declined to comment on Argentine media reports that the 85-year-old pope had offered to mediate with the Vatican. Ambassador Alexander Avdeev denied this, the Roman correspondent of the Russian agency TASS reported.
Avdeev told RIA Novosti that the meeting lasted about 40 minutes and that the pope had expressed “great concern” about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
The ambassador said the pope “called for the protection of children, the protection of the sick and suffering and the protection of the people.”
When contacted for comment by Reuters, the Russian embassy said the ambassador was not available.
The pope’s visit to the embassy to talk to an ambassador during the conflict is unprecedented in his memory.
At the moment when a Russian rocket hit a fuel depot near the village of Kulinichi near the city of Kharkov in eastern Ukraine
The huge explosion lit up the night sky and was caught by a Ukrainian family sheltered near their home.
Foreign envoys are usually summoned by the Vatican secretary of state or meet with the pope at the Apostolic Palace.
In an interview with Reuters on February 14, before the invasion, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Andriy Yurash, said Kiev would be open to Vatican mediation in the conflict.
In a statement Thursday, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the Holy See hopes those who hold the world’s destiny in their hands will have a “flash of conscience”.
World leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of grossly violating international law by launching the largest attack by one country against another in Europe since World War II.
Francis made many calls for peace in Ukraine before Thursday’s invasion, but has not spoken publicly since. He declared next Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine.
The Vatican announced separately on Friday that Francis will not be able to chair the services in Ash Wednesday on Wednesday due to an acute attack of pain in his knee. He will also have to miss a trip to Florence this Sunday
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