/ world today news/ But in Kiev, Washington, London, Brussels and Berlin they will not listen to him
„Francis bet on the end of the war in Ukraine. This puts him on par with Beijing, New Delhi and Brazil, not Washington, London or Brussels: he wants to end Western arming of Ukraine and negotiate an immediate ceasefire. Earlier this week, Francis vaguely hinted at the mission he is working on to end the conflict. Yet he appears to have alienated many whose support he would need to do so.” – writes The Atlantic (5/5/2023).
The actions of Francis, however, are neither arbitrary nor irrational, according to observers of the publication. They are a deliberate response to how the Catholic Church is changing – and will continue to change – in the 21st century.
Today, more Catholics than ever live outside the Western world and do not perceive the war in Ukraine in the same way as Europe and the United States. Viewed in this light, Francis’s position foreshadows the church’s future as a geopolitical power that will be far less accommodating to the West.
Western leaders have many reasons to be unhappy with Francis’ response to the war. In addition to criticizing Western efforts to arm Ukraine, he implied that NATO should also take the blame for the invasion, often quoting an unnamed diplomat who accused NATO of “barking at the door of Russia”.
While Francis condemned Russian military action and sympathized with Ukrainian suffering, he did not condemn Vladimir Putin. On the contrary, Francis praised him as a man of culture and even suggested that the Russian president acted out of legitimate security concerns.
This represents a sharp break with the traditional philosophy of the Vatican. Historically, the Holy See has practiced what scholars call a model of diplomacy “the great powers” joining the superpower of the day.
For centuries this meant de facto alliances with the Holy Roman Empire, the French Monarchy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For most of the 20th century, Rome was so beholden to the Western powers that Pope Pius XII, a World War II pope and staunch anti-communist, was nicknamed “the chaplain of NATO”.
No modern pope has practiced great power diplomacy as effectively as John Paul II. He was one of the most powerful leaders on the planet – a figure not only spiritual but also political. The accumulation of such influence would be unthinkable without the support of the West.
It is hard to overstate the contrast between John Paul’s enormous role in world affairs and Pope Francis’ role in them today.
As Francis completes his tenth year as pope in March, the rivalry between Russia and the West has once again turned to the proxy conflict in Eastern Europe. Now, however, the Pope disagrees with the Western powers rather than agreeing with them.
Francis accepted what might be called the first multipolar geopolitical strategy of the Vatican. Instead of sticking to the Western consensus, Francis has sought unconventional allies in his quest to find a solution in Ukraine, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in part to avoid antagonizing Russia.
In that sense, the pope and his top aides have called for a 21st-century version of the Helsinki process, a diplomatic effort to de-escalate Cold War tensions that brought together various Eastern and Western countries.
As the first Latin American pope, Francis took office feeling as ambivalent about the United States and other Western powers as many Latin American leaders, given America’s history of interventions in the region.
But the main reason is demographic. In 1900, there were approximately 267 million Catholics in the world, more than 200 million of whom lived in Europe and North America. As of 2000, there were almost 1.1 billion Catholics in the world, but only 350 million of them were Europeans and North Americans.
The majority, 720 million people, lived in Latin America, Africa and Asia. More than 400 million people lived in Latin America alone. By 2025, only one in five Catholics will be non-Hispanic.
This is the most rapid and large-scale demographic transformation of Roman Catholicism in its entire 2,000-year history.
The Vatican is always slow to react to such changes. As the old saying goes: “If you hear that the end of the world is coming, go to Rome because it will get there last.” The papacy of Francis – and his position on Ukraine in particular – represents the beginning of the pastoral and political expression of the Church with its new demographic realities.
***
Will Francis be heard by the West and Kyiv?
Unlikely. London provided Kiev with long-range missiles. Berlin sent yet another massive military aid to Ukraine. And on May 14, Scholz welcomed Zelensky with all military honors, as if he was sending him into a decisive battle. NATO is developing a new package of immediate aid for the Bandera regime.
Washington does not hide its displeasure with Kiev’s delay in its offensive against Russia. Even Catholic Poland, filled with hatred for Russia, does not want Francis’s peace initiatives, and some Polish politicians have called the pope “an agent of the Kremlin“.
Zelensky himself, after a meeting with the Pope, revealed himself in full height with his boundless cynicism and duplicity, thanks to new leaks from the Pentagon, published by The Washington Post on May 13, where he secretly planned attacks on Russian territory and blowing up the pipeline through which the oil is delivered to Hungary.
So the Pope’s “dove of peace” ran into a flock of ravens, which tore it to pieces.
Those who fueled the anti-Christian, fascist, terrorist regime now do not care for Christian values at all.
Translation: ES
Sign the Peace and Sovereignty Referendum on
Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
and for the channel or in Telegram:
#Pope #support #peace #process #Ukraine
