Europe

Pope Francis criticised for his ‘white flag’ comments on possible negotiations to end war in Ukraine

UN rapporteur says Moscow’s forces use torture as ‘deliberate policy’ in Ukraine

Ukrainians holding placards reading 'Captivity is killing!', 'Don't be silent!', 'Free Azov', among others during a rally in Kiev calling for authorities to return their relatives from Russian captivity. Photograph: EPA

Daniel McLaughlin in Kyiv
Sun Mar 10 2024 - 19:00

Pope Francis has been criticised in Ukraine and by some of its allies for suggesting it should have “the courage of the white flag” and seek negotiations to end its war with Russia’s invasion force.

“I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag and negotiates,” the pope said in interview with Swiss media last month that was published in part over the weekend.

“The word negotiate is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” he added, noting that Turkey had offered to host peace talks – and replying that “I am here” when asked if he would mediate.

Russia says negotiations are impossible unless Ukraine accepts the occupation of a swathe of its territory and other conditions that would limit its sovereignty. Kyiv insists that Moscow withdraw all its troops, pay reparations and face a war crimes tribunal.

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The pope (87) has frustrated Kyiv and its allies by failing to clearly blame Moscow for the war and by suggesting at times that Nato provoked Russian president Vladimir Putin by accepting membership requests from countries located close to Russia.

Ukrainians expressed outrage on social media, and Anton Gerashchenko, a prominent blogger and former adviser to the interior ministry in Kyiv, said: “If Pope Francis lived in 1940 he would probably suggest to Great Britain to surrender, lay down their arms in front of Germany and negotiate with Hitler. It does seem strange that the pope doesn’t urge to defend Ukraine, doesn’t condemn Russia as an aggressor who killed tens of thousands of people, doesn’t urge Putin to stop, but calls on Ukraine to raise the white flag instead.”

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “The strongest is the one who, in the battle between good and evil, stands on the side of good rather than attempting to put them on the same footing and call it ‘negotiations’. At the same time, when it comes to the white flag, we know this Vatican’s strategy from the first half of the 20th century. I urge to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine and its people in their just struggle for their lives.

“Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags. We thank His Holiness Pope Francis for his constant prayers for peace, and we continue to hope that after two years of devastating war in the heart of Europe, the Pontiff will find an opportunity to pay an Apostolic visit to Ukraine to support over a million Ukrainian Catholics, over five million Greek-Catholics, all Christians, and all Ukrainians,” he added on “X”.

Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said: “How about, for balance, encouraging Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Peace would immediately ensue without the need for negotiations.”

“My Sunday morning take,” Latvian president Edgars Rinkevics wrote on social media: “One must not capitulate in face of evil, one must fight it and defeat it, so that the evil raises the white flag and capitulates.”

The pope’s comments were published the day after Alice Jill Edwards, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, said that “torture is an element of Russia’s war policy” in Ukraine.

About 90 per cent of more than 100,000 war crimes cases being investigated by Ukraine were related to torture, she said, noting that “torture has been carried out in an organised and systematic manner” in different occupied regions, which points “to direct authorisation and a deliberate policy”.

Moscow denies that its troops have committed crimes in Ukraine, where at least three civilians were killed and 12 injured on Sunday in missile and air strikes on towns in the eastern Donetsk region. Meanwhile, Russia said one person was killed and an oil depot set on fire by Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks on the border region of Kursk.

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin

Daniel McLaughlin is a contributor to The Irish Times from central and eastern Europe

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