VATICAN CITY “We must move forward to overcome the wall of the impossible, built on seemingly irrefutable considerations, on the memory of so many past pains and great wounds suffered.” Francis’ message at the Berlin meeting of Sant’Egidio arrives, while Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, his envoy, reaches China, three days of meetings in Beijing, from Wednesday to Friday, as the final stage of the peace mission that has already taken to Kiev (June 5 and 6), Moscow (28 and 29). June) and Washington (July 17-19). “We demand that paths to peace be opened, especially for dear and tormented Ukraine,” writes Bergoglio. Both the Pope and his envoy know how desperate the mission appears. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Putin has never responded to Francis. In Ukraine, however, the Pope’s words to the youth of St. Petersburg about the legacy of “Great Russia” were greeted with dismay, and it does not matter that Francis then clarified that he called Russian culture the antithesis to any form of imperialism , against Dostoyevsky and not against the invasions: Zelensky’s advisor Mykhailo Podoljak even went so far as to speak of a “pro-Russian” pope who “cannot play a mediator role.”
The “logic of war” seems to eliminate any possibility of achieving peace, but that was in the air from the start. For this reason, the Holy See has always spoken not of “mediation” but of “mission” – promoting humanitarian dialogue, prisoner exchanges and the return of Ukrainian children deported to Russia – and, above all, it has planned to influence them Allied powers of the contenders, first the United States and now China, called for “support for humanitarian initiatives and the search for paths that can promote a just peace.” The dialogue between the Holy See and Beijing continues, although with ups and downs and limited to agreement on the appointment of bishops; and even during the trip to Mongolia earlier in the month, Bergoglio continued to send messages of friendship to Beijing. In Berlin, Zuppi explained: “We must always think about the attacker and those attacked, who, however, have to find a solution.” The “clouds” with Ukraine “are understandable in such strong tension, but they have already cleared or will clear forgiven: I believe that the government and the Ukrainian people know the support that the Church and Pope Francis have always had for their suffering.” And no matter if the mission seems doomed: “Those who do nothing do not fail, but you do nothing.” It is always better to try. Even if, the cardinal added sadly, “peace always comes too late in the face of the pain and suffering of war.”
In his speech to the meeting in Sant’Egidio, Francis invokes “the boldness of peace”. In Mongolia he had quoted Kierkegaard’s words about Abraham: “He who hoped for the impossible was the greatest of all.” Because achieving peace “is difficult, but not impossible,” he writes in his message: “It is not impossible for Believers who live the boldness of a hopeful prayer.” But it must not be impossible for politicians, for those responsible, for diplomats either.” The war, from Africa to the Middle East, “still devastates too many parts of the world” , the Pope emphasizes: “The courage of peace is needed: now, because too many conflicts have lasted too long, so much so that some give the impression that they should not let them never end, so that in a world where everything is moving forward quickly, only the end of the wars seems slow. It requires the courage to know how to turn despite obstacles and objective difficulties. The boldness of peace is the prophecy required of those who hold the fate of countries at war in their hands, of the international community, of all of us, especially men and women of faith, to answer the cries of mothers Give voice and fathers, to the torment of the fallen, to the senselessness of the destruction, who denounce the madness of war.”
Francis’ concern is not due to the conflict in Ukraine; Rather, the Russian invasion poses the danger that the “partial third world war” that he has denounced since the beginning of his pontificate will come to an end. Francis recalls the fall of the wall in Berlin that “separated two worlds, the West and the East of Europe,” and the failed hope for “a new world peace after the Cold War.” And instead, “over the years it has not been built on this common hope, but rather on special interests and mistrust.” That’s why “instead of tearing down walls, others were built,” he writes: “And unfortunately the step from the wall to the ditch is often short.”