Pope Francis appealed for “courage to raise the white flag and negotiate” to end the war in Ukraine “before things get worse”, in an interview with Swiss television released on Saturday
The Ukrainian embassy at the Vatican responded, this Sunday, to the Pope that during the Second World War “no one spoke of peace negotiations with Hitler”, after Francis had defended talks between Ukrainians and Russians.
“It is very important to be consistent! When we talk about the Third World War, which we are experiencing, we have to learn the lessons of the Second World War”, wrote the diplomatic representation on social media, according to the Spanish agency EFE.
“At that time, did anyone seriously talk about peace negotiations with Hitler and the white flag to satisfy him? So the lesson is just one: if we want to end the war, we have to do everything we can to kill the Dragon!” he added.
Pope Francis appealed for “courage to raise the white flag and negotiate” to end the war in Ukraine “before things get worse”, in an interview with Swiss television released on Saturday.
“When we see that we are defeated, that things are not going well, we have to have the courage to negotiate.
We are ashamed, but how many deaths will this end with?”, asked the Pope. “Negotiate in time, find some countries to mediate. In the war in Ukraine there are many.
Turkey offered. And others. Let them not be ashamed to negotiate before the situation worsens”, he added in the interview with Swiss Radiotelevision.
After the interview was released, the Holy See clarified that the Pope was not talking about surrender, but rather negotiation. Turkey offered, on Saturday, to host a peace summit between Kiev and Moscow during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Istanbul.
“Any proposal for a resolution to this war must start from the formula proposed by the country that defends its territory and its people”, replied Zelensky to the offer from his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“We want a just peace,” he added. Ukraine demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory, including Crimea, annexed in 2014, as a precondition for negotiations with Moscow.