What the Pope actually told Russians

The New Voice of Ukraine
·8 min read
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Pope Francis
Pope Francis
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I think that the Pope does not have many illusions about this regime. So he tried to paint some kind of alternative picture and failed.

Not only Peskov, but other Russians who are for Putin and the war have now begun to comment favorably on the Pontiff's remarks. In fact, they continue the tradition of manipulating and abusing his words. For example, there were stories when the Pope spoke via Zoom with the Moscow Patriarch. His words were interpreted in their own way in Moscow. He had such an experience, which was quite traumatic for him (he later shared this). And again, so to speak, we have what we have. When he said these words, there was such a danger that they would be abused, and, in fact, they are being abused.

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Why did he say these words? Obviously, first of all, these words were improvisation, and as far as I know, this was outside the original script of his speech. He delivered the address as written, and then added these words after. This indicates that, on the one hand, he wanted to say something from himself to establish some kind of contact with his audience. On the other hand, as far as I know, he intended to show (this was passed on to me by my correspondents in the Vatican) that there is another way for Russia. This path is not connected with Putin, because the Pontiff unequivocally condemns the war. He has had the opportunity to say this many times and believes that Russian youth should follow a different path. Of course, he suggested an alternative path, which is not much better, but on the contrary, it is the same path that led to Putinism. It is an imperial idea, and Putin continues this idea. However, the Pope did not realize this because he lacked knowledge of Russian history and the figures he mentioned. Perhaps Peter and Catherine are two of the few figures that Pope Francis has heard of and knows something about, and that's why he mentioned them.

Read also: Lithuania summons Vatican ambassador after Pope Francis praises Russian Empire

By the way, we have seen a refutation from the Holy See. The spokesman for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican Press Center, made a statement. According to him, the Pope wanted to "encourage young people to preserve and develop the positive things that are in the great Russian cultural and spiritual heritage. He certainly did not intend to praise imperialist logic and the rulers he mentioned to point to some relevant historical periods." The Vatican came to its senses, and the Pope himself came to his senses and issued these refutations.

he suggested an alternative path, which is not much better

I think the Pope does not have many illusions about today's Russia, about this regime, which is why he tried to paint some alternative picture, and failed. But his knowledge of history is very limited, and this is another problem: on the one hand, there are people around the Pontiff who are certainly in the material, who know this topic and understand what Russian history is, who Peter is, and who Catherine is. They can play a dual role. Some of his advisors manipulate this knowledge so that he can say some things that would be acceptable in Russia. There is a particular pro-Russian group around the Holy See, it is true. For various reasons, they sympathize with Putin, if not personally, but at least try to rehabilitate something Russian somehow. There is also a group of experts who have the material, but whom the Pontiff does not listen to. This is also his trademark policy; he often relies on his intuition and inspiration. Sometimes this works well, as, for example, you remember, it has already become a classic - about Patriarch Kirill, that he is Putin's altar boy. This was an impromptu statement received very positively in Ukraine, but in Russia, it ruined the relationship between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill forever, apparently. Sometimes, these impromptu speeches, which he makes intuitively on the spur of the moment, are very unfortunate, as in this case with Peter and Catherine.

The pro-Russian lobby around the Pontiff comprises different people with different backgrounds, but with a certain common denominator in their education and worldview. These people look at the world through the prism through which the Pontiff was brought up to look at the world, through the prism of postcolonialism. This is a philosophical and theological view of the world formed in the second half of the twentieth century, after World War II, in connection with the liberation struggles in the former British colonies and the former Spanish colonies of Latin America. This view implies a certain bipolarity of the world, where, on the one hand, there are the former colonial powers, which now include the United States of America; although America was not an empire in the classical sense, it was a colony of the British Empire which freed itself from the colonial yoke. But in this worldview, in this bipolar world, America occupies a leading position as a center of neo-imperial, neocolonial politics. The rest of the world, including Russia and China, is such a big problem now and is colonizing, for example, Africa and other parts of the world where it can reach economically. But for people brought up in this postcolonial consciousness, truly neocolonial forces like Russia and China are not included in this list of so-called evil countries. It is challenging, in fact, to rebuild from this bipolar vision of the world, where America and the West, on the one hand, are colonial evil, and the rest of the world is good, by definition, simply because it is not the West.

Ukraine is teaching us to rebuild this consciousness. Ukraine is demonstrating that this view of the world no longer works. Because this colonial mindset cannot understand or comprehend this war, our war is a reality that changes the consciousness of many. It is changing the consciousness of the Pontiff, because if we follow his statements, starting, for example, with the Havana Declaration of 2016 and up to the last, the evolution is very noticeable. The evolution is towards a better understanding of Ukraine, the understanding that the world does not work as it used to.

Read also: Russia targets youth in effort to recruit propaganda collaborators in occupied territories

If we go back to the Pope’s words, he intended to convey an idea contradicting Russia's official propaganda. The other thing is that he failed. But still, we need to perceive, and it is right, to perceive the Pope as an ambassador of Ukraine who needs to be advised and helped in some way, but definitely not pushed away and definitely not confronted. He is our ambassador in the Global South, and his voice is heard there more than any other voice. Even when he makes mistakes, the right messages that he says are very important for Ukraine. In fact, he can be our ambassador in Russia, where, on the one hand, he is treated even worse than in Ukraine, but on the other hand, there are Catholics who listen to him, to whom he can convey some important messages, including for us.

In a few weeks, the General Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will be held in Rome, where all the bishops will gather and meet with the Pope. This is also a powerful tool for influencing Vatican policy and statements. That is why we must apply pressure using this all-Ukrainian group, which works. The Vatican's communications on the war in Ukraine have improved significantly. If we don't take individual episodes that are really hurtful, but take the whole array of statements and informational messages.

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In the spring, there was talk of a peacekeeping mission, or even Pope Francis' peace formula, which his envoy brought, Special Envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, when he met with the President of Ukraine, among others, and then this delegation met with President Biden. However, in the Kremlin, Putin did not come down to meet with them; he instructed his adviser, Ushakov, to meet with them. Matteo Zuppi, on the other hand, met with Lvova-Belova, who has an arrest warrant in The Hague for the abduction of Ukrainian children. But you see what the situation is: Cardinal Zuppi came with a formula for peace from the Pope and did not lose hope of promoting this formula for peace after meeting with President Zelensky. But it is evident that this formula smashed against the Kremlin wall. Zuppi realized that no one in the Kremlin would support this peace formula. And so the peace formula came to naught. What is essential for Ukraine is that Ukraine is not against peace, not against peace formulas. Ukraine is in favor of them, ready to discuss them. On its own terms, of course. But it turned out that the most real torpedo for the peace formula was, in fact, the Kremlin. Now, the mission of Cardinal Zuppi, and obviously, if we look at it more broadly, the peacekeeping mission of the Pope, has narrowed to the humanitarian component. It seems that now the efforts of the Vatican envoys are focused on the return of Ukrainian children, at least some of the Ukrainian children from Russia. There are good hopes that this will happen in the near future. It's worth waiting to see what happens.

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