“Pope Bergoglio’s words about the ‘courage (raising) of the white flag’, about ‘negotiations when you see that you have been defeated’ are shocking, impressive and deeply offensive to the people who have been trying to survive the terrible and criminal Russian aggression for more than two years. – noted Oles Horodetskyi, head of the Christian Society of Ukrainians in Italy – We respond to the request of the Kremlin executioner to surrender with popular resistance, but we could not even think that we would receive such a request from our Pope, the head of the Catholic Church and the preacher of the Gospel.
It is unacceptable for a Christian to surrender to the evil and sin that Vladimir Putin’s Russia represents today. Protection of one’s life and one’s home is a sacred duty of every citizen. It is at this difficult moment, Horodetsky continues, when American aid is blocked and Ukraine risks remaining isolated and at the mercy of the aggressor, it is very unfortunate to hear these unsuccessful appeals of the Pope. Ukraine was not defeated and we did not see a desire to surrender in our people. We expect the Pope to resolutely condemn the Russian sins of aggression, mass murder, violence and destruction.
We expect that the Pope will appeal to Putin with the demand to stop the aggression and leave the territory of Ukraine. We expect the Pope to be a champion of a just peace, not a moral ally of an aggressor. “The word has great power,” Horodetsky concluded, “especially when it is the word of the Pontiff, and it must be used with great consideration and responsibility in order not to harm the Church of Christ and the faith of its believers.”
La Repubblica
