It does seem that President Zelensky is offering a moral analysis of aggressor and victim and the injustice of the aggressor who must be stopped, than Pope Francis has offered to the suffering people of the Ukraine. I am sure the pope wants to end their suffering but the pope’s moral voice has been seriously weakened by major missteps in the enunciating Catholic principles of just war which the Ukrainian president, who is not Catholic, but a Jew, I believe, does enunciate.
During a keenly anticipated visit yesterday to Rome that included a 40-minute encounter with Pope Francis, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made it crystal clear that whatever secret peace plan the Vatican may be cooking up, he’s not interested.
In a tweet shortly after the meeting concluded, Zelensky said he’d pressed Francis “to condemn crimes in Ukraine. Because there can be no equality between the victim and the aggressor.”
Speaking later during a special program on Italian television broadcast from Rome’s famed “Altar of the Fatherland” in the Piazza Venezia, Zelensky flatly ruled out a mediating role for the pontiff or the Vatican.
“With all due respect for His Holiness, we don’t need a mediator between Ukraine and the aggressor that’s seized and occupied our territory,” Zelensky said.
“No one can negotiate with Russia,” Zelensky said. “There can be no mediators.”
“They took away citizenship from people in the occupied territories,” he said, referring to Russian forces. “They forced them to go fight on the front. They tossed out all Ukrainian instruction. They prohibited the Ukrainian language. They forbade having a Ukrainian church. They brought abuses and evil.”
“You can’t have mediation with Putin,” Zelensky emphasized. “We know the consequences … it’s not a question of the Vatican, or America, or Latin America, or China, or any country in the world. Putin only kills, you can’t have a mediation with him.”
The Ukrainian leader implied that if the Vatican wants to do something constructive, it should get on board with Ukraine’s own peace plan.
“For me, it was an honor to meet His Holiness,” Zelensky said.
“However, he knows my position and the position of Ukraine. The war is in Ukraine, and therefore the plan [for peace] has to be Ukrainian. We’ve proposed a plan, and we discussed it today. We’re very interested in involving the Vatican and Italy in our formula for peace, for restoring the peace in Ukraine.”
Headlines in the Italian press drew the obvious conclusion: “Zelensky rejects the pope’s peace plan,” reported Il Giornale, while Il Fatto Quotidiano went with, “Zelensky freezes out the pope, wants to negotiate on his own” and Il Manifesto had, “The pope’s plan isn’t needed.”
4 comments:
Pope Francis possesses by far the world's most powerful spiritual/moral voice/authority.
President Zelenskyy made that clear yesterday via the praise that he had heaped upon Pope Francis. President Zelenskyy's also made that clear via his desire to tap Pope Francis' moral authority to promote humanitarian efforts related to the war in Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa
Scroll down a bit: At the 1:55 mark, President Zelenskyy begins his praise of Pope Francis...as well as requested Pope Francis' to assist Ukraine in various humanitarian endeavors.
The one negative is that President Zelenskyy is interested only in his/Ukraine's "Peace Formula." That is a shame. President Zelenskyy is determined to stick it to Putin/Russia. They will bow to him...march to his tune. Good luck with that.
But John Allen's article in question has cast Pope Francis in a positive light.
The article portrays Pope Francis as a gallant peacemaker in line with Pope Benedict XV, whose holy efforts to end World War I had been rebuffed, unfortunately, by the warring parties.
John Allen noted that Benedict XV "led the Catholic Church during the First World War, a conflict he did everything in his power to stop."
"In August 1917 Benedict XV wrote the contending parties to...propose a seven-point peace plan...Both the United States and Germany rejected his initiative..."
"So marginal did Benedict’s position seem that after the war, the Vatican was excluded from the Paris Peace Conference."
"In the end, however, some of Benedict’s original ideas were folded into U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s 14-point peace plan in January 1918."
John Allen concluded:
"For right now, Francis can perhaps at least take comfort that he’s hardly the first pope whose efforts to make peace have been rebuffed … and, almost certainly, he won’t be the last."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
I rarely respond to or even read Mark's posts, but this is ridiculous:
1. Russia invaded a sovereign country whose territory Russia (as well as the U.S. and others) had guaranteed in exchange for Ukraine's giving up its nuclear weapons - to Russia, of course.
2. Russia alone has attacked explicitly civilian targets which, in my reading at least, violates one of the most important tenets of just war.
3. Russia has deported Ukrainian citizens to its own territory - most egregiously children.
4. Russia has any expression of Ukrainian heritage (language, religion, etc.).
Perhaps the Ukrainians should take the advice Gandhi gave the European Jews in WWII: Don't oppose the Nazis and fascists, just accept your fate (doom). Just asking.
P.S. Advice to Pope Francis - if you're engaged in secret negotiations it's poor form to broadcast this fact.
Following his 40-minute meeting with Pope Francis, President Zelenskyy had spoken respectfully and highly of Pope Francis.
The idea that President Zelenskyy had stuck it to Pope Francis is preposterous.
President Zelenskyy has recognized that Pope Francis is the world's leading voice in regard to morality. That is why President Zelenskyy had made it clear that Pope Francis' endorsement of Zelenskyy's "Peace Formula" would advance greatly said peace plan.
President Zelenskyy has made it clear that his/Ukraine's "Peace Formula" is the only peace plan of interest to him.
Nevertheless, he is desperate to have Pope Francis endorse Ukraine's "Peace Formula."
President Zelenskyy noted yesterday that Pope Francis' endorsement of Ukraine's "Peace Formula" would provide a tremendous boost to said plan.
In the meantime, President Zelenskyy requested yesterday Pope Francis' assistance in regard to several humanitarian projects that would benefit Ukraine.
President Zelenskyy is desires to tap into the tremendous moral standing that Pope Francis enjoys throughout the world.
That is understandable.
President Zelenskyy offered yesterday the following interesting comment:
"The Peace Formula that I proposed during the Indonesian meeting of the G20 is based on solving 10 crises.
"It seems to me that I have received a signal of support from the Vatican.
"This is important..."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
The following is amazing...if it is true:
-- The Vatican sent a signal of support for the Ukrainian Peace Formula – Zelenskyy
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/vatican-sent-signal-support-ukrainian-165215971.html
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after speaking with Pope Francis, said that he had received a signal of support for the Ukrainian Peace Formula from the Vatican.
"It seems to me that I have received a signal of support from the Vatican. This is important...," Zelenskyy said.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
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