Pope Francis is good at pricking consciences.
He does this regarding reconciliation and peace in the world, especially in Eastern Europe.
For example, when he sends Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna – a leading figure from the Sant’Egidio Community who is skilled in peaceful conflict resolution – to meet with leaders of major powers.
Or when he urges influential states and non-state actors to pressure belligerents to cease fighting.
These initiatives, among others, demonstrate Francis’ ability to facilitate reconciliation between opposing parties.
But when it comes to geopolitics, the pope is not infallible.
Geopolitics is different
When the pope asks the people of Ukraine to recognise their defeat, based on the failure of their counteroffensive and their obvious demographic and military inferiority compared to the forces deployed by Russia, Francis steps out of his role as an impartial mediator.
Indeed, his political realism seems to burden the victims more than the perpetrators of an invasion that was committed in total violation of international law.
Moreover, by using clumsy and highly undiplomatic wording – i.e. recommending Ukrainians to “have the courage to raise the white flag” and negotiate with the Russians, he demonstrates something else.
He shows with words surely exceeding his intentions, a more cynical than reasonable approach to the realities experienced by a terrified population living constantly under bombardments.
A “disconnect” in the pope’s analysis
Through his statements recorded by a Swiss broadcaster in early February, the pope gives the impression that the die is already cast, and that Ukraine’s weakness in terms of soldiers and weapons condemns it to inevitable defeat.
It’s no wonder that his words were outright rejected by the country’s civilian and religious leaders.
They received it as a sign of defiance and abandonment on his part – a humiliation. Especially since Francis expresses no reservation or clear criticism against the Russian invaders who shamelessly use and abuse their supremacy in the air and on the ground.
Analysts of this war and other military specialists have deemed the pope’s recent intervention as a “disconnect”.
As one French general commented, “With this pope, we are far from the ‘do not be afraid!’ of John Paul II in the face of the Soviet empire!”
After trying to keep David and Goliath at an equal distance for a long time, Francis is now bluntly urging David to throw away his slingshot.
A lost war?
These Jesuit pope’s surprising words are also unbalanced.
On the one hand, they imply that Ukraine has already lost the war when it seems to be settling into an indeterminate duration.
There is talk in this regard of a kind of “Vietnamisation” of the conflict.
It would be subject to reinforcements in ammunition and possibly troops by a coalition of European countries who reject any possibility of victory by Vladimir Putin’s imperialist Russia.
On the other hand, the pope seems to downplay the expansionist threats of the Kremlin leader, who has become increasingly less concealed and is now targeting Moldova and the Baltic States, in particular.
In fact, the pope’s statements seem to coincide with Putin’s agenda.
That agenda involves taking advantage of the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive and the weariness of Western support to impose the idea of a ceasefire and then open negotiations in a power relationship that is currently favourable to the Russian president.
A peace that profits Goliath
Power is the only language Vladimir Putin listens to.
Apparently, it’s language that the pope’s ears cannot bear since he prefers peace. How could it be otherwise for someone who took his papal name from St. Francis of Assisi?
Nevertheless, if true peace has a price, it must be that of justice. It cannot be made for the benefit of Goliath, the aggressor, and to the detriment of David, the one who was attacked!
In an article published in March 2015 in L’Osservatore Romano, the Argentine pope was describes as a “Zorro of the weak”.
He earned this nickname due to the solidarity that he rendered to often-forgotten victims of injustice, violence, and modern forms of slavery.
This comparison with Zorro, the legendary righter of wrongs, is now undermined by the pope’s diplomatic clumsiness towards a people that been fighting for its freedom the last two years.
As Francis begins the 12th year of the papacy he was elected to on March 13, 2013, what does this incident tell us?
Perhaps that this Latin American pope – who was so taciturn when he was the cardinal-archbishop of Buenos Aires but has been quite talkative during his time on the Chair of St. Peter – lacks the prudence of Paul VI and the firmness of John Paul II.
What will likely remain of this unfortunate blunder? The memory of useless words and a missed opportunity.
To borrow an expression cherished by Francis, that of encouraging the Ukrainian people not to let their dignity be stolen.
This is the condition for a just peace because Goliath attacked David.
- First published in La Croix. Republished with permission.
- Michel Cool is an awarding-winning religious affairs journalist and author who writes regularly for La Croix.
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