The Pope: “Why don’t I name Putin? It’s not necessary, everyone knows my position”
“Why don’t I name Putin? Because it’s not necessary; it’s already known. However, sometimes people get attached to a detail. Everyone knows my position, with Putin or without Putin, without naming him.” She pointed it out dad in an interview with the magazine America. Bergoglio then recalled that he “spoke with President Zelensky three times by telephone. And I generally work with receiving lists of prisoners, both civilian prisoners and military prisoners, and I have them sent to the Russian government, and the response has always been very positive”. Francis then clearly says that, if he goes, he will go to both Moscow and Kiev: “I have also thought about travelling, but I have made the decision: if I travel, I will go to Moscow and Kiev, both, not just one place. “I never gave the impression that I was covering up the aggression. I have received here in this room, three or four times, a delegation from the Ukrainian government. And we work together”.
“When I speak of Ukraine – he reiterated – I speak of a martyred people. If you have a martyred people, you have someone who martyrs them. When I speak of Ukraine, I speak of cruelty because I have a lot of information on the cruelty of the troops entering. In general , the cruellest are perhaps those who are from Russia but are not from the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryats and so on. Of course, the one who invades is the Russian state. This is very clear. Sometimes I try not to specify so as not to to offend and rather to condemn in general, even if it is known who I am condemning. It is not necessary that I put my name and surname”.
The Pontiff recalled once again that “On the second day of the war I went to the Russian embassy (at the Holy See, ed), an unusual gesture because the pope never goes to an embassy. And there I told the ambassador to tell Putin that I was willing to travel on the condition that he would give me a small window to negotiate. Lavrov, the high-level foreign minister, replied with a very nice letter from which I understood that it was not necessary for the moment”.
