Pope Francis, in an interview granted to the Corriere della Serahas said that “perhaps the cries of NATO at the gates of Russia” have led the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to react in this way and have triggered the invasion of Ukraine: “An anger that I cannot say was provoked, but it may have been facilitated.”
Francis has also stated that the President of Hungary, Victor Orban, assured him that the Russians “have a plan and that all on may 9 –referring to the invasion of Ukraine by the Putin tyranny– will be over“. “I hope so,” adds the pontiff, “so the speed of the escalation of the war during these days will be understood. Because now it’s not just Donbas: it’s Crimea, Odessa, they take the Black Sea port from Ukraine…, that’s all. I am pessimisticbut we must make every possible gesture to stop the war.”
Francis points out that he does not plan to visit Ukraine because he thinks he should go to Russia first: “To kyiv, for now, I am not going. I have sent Cardinal Michael Czerny and Konrad Krajewski, who has come for the fourth time. But I feel like I shouldn’t go. First I have to go to Moscow and meet with Putin. In any case, I am a priest. What I can do? I do what I can. If Putin opened the door for him… “.
The Pope explained that he has spoken with the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, and that he has not done so with the Russian tyrant, who has not responded to his requests for dialogue: “It was necessary for the leader of the Kremlin to allow some windows. we have received an answer and we continue to insist, although I am afraid that Putin cannot and does not want to have this meeting right now”.
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