Finally, after a few minutes, a clarification arrived from the Vatican Press Office regarding the remarks of Pope Francis in an interview with Swiss Radio and Television. During the interview, the Pontiff spoke about the conflict in Ukraine, inviting negotiations. “He who sees the situation is stronger – he stressed – who thinks of the people, who has the courage to raise the white flag and negotiate. Today we can negotiate with the help of international powers. The word negotiate is courageous. When we see that we are defeated, that things are not going well, we must have the courage to negotiate. You are ashamed, but how many deaths will this end in? Negotiate in time, look for a country to act as a mediator. In the war in Ukraine, there are many. Turkey offered. And other. Don't be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse. » A concept which could, however, easily be misinterpreted as a possible capitulation to Vladimir Putin. The Vatican Press Room intervened in this regard, through the words of director Matteo Bruni: “The Pope uses the term white flag, and responds by taking up the image proposed by the interviewer, to indicate with it the cessation of hostilities, the truce reached with the courage of negotiation. Elsewhere in the interview, speaking about another conflict situation, but referring to any war situation, the Pope clearly stated: “negotiation is never capitulation.”
The Pope's words on Gaza
The Pontiff spoke both on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and on that between Israel and Hamas which sees the Israeli army engaged in the Gaza Strip. “Every day at seven in the afternoon, I call the Gaza parish. Six hundred people live there and tell what they see: it's war. And war is fought by two, not one. The irresponsible ones are these two who are waging war. Then there is not only the military war, there is the “guerrilla war,” so to speak, of Hamas, a movement which is not an army. It's a bad thing,” said Pope Francis. But when asked if we should not lose hope of attempting mediation, he replied: “Let's look at history, the wars we have experienced , they all end with an agreement.
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