“Any war is a shameful capitulation”denounced Pope Francis on February 25 about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, in a tweet translated into several languages including Russian, which is extremely rare.
War in Ukraine: the Pope goes to the Russian Embassy to “express his concern”
“Any war leaves the world worse off than it found it. War is always a failure of politics and humanity, a shameful capitulation, a rout before the forces of evil.writes the pope, taking up a passage from his encyclical on peace All brothers (All brothers) published in 2020. Earlier in the day, the sovereign pontiff had visited the Russian embassy in the Vatican, an exceptional event in contemporary history.
The pope also called the major archbishop of Kiev, primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Msgr. Sviatoslav Shevchuk. “I will do everything I can,” he said, saying he was closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine. Francis praised the decision of Ukrainian Church leaders to stay in the country, and assured them of his support. He also offered his blessing for the suffering of the Ukrainian people.