VATICAN CITY – It is not a political action, but it nevertheless remains a clear stance at a very delicate moment. Pope Francis on March 2 is calling everyone, not just believers, to a day of prayer and fasting given “the increasingly alarming scenarios” in the “crisis” – he never speaks of “aggression” – between Russia and Ukraine. He also did it in 2013 for Syria, shortly after the election to the throne of Peter. He does so today in a context where an official mediation action is not, in fact, allowed. There is no consent from both sides. Not only that, in the territories involved religious confessions, in particular the two Orthodox Churches of Ukraine and Moscow, do not like interference.
But the judgment of Francis and the Holy See on what is happening is clear. There are mistakes from many sides. Washington is also not doing the best it can. As for Putin, the words of the Osservatore Romano say everything: “Putin has chosen to force his hand, making official what was already in the field on the ground, well aware of the implications that such a decision would have entailed”. For this reason, the prospect of a peaceful solution in an “arm wrestling” that for months has pitted Russia and the West “seems to be fading”.
Laconic also the comment a month ago by the Vatican’s “foreign minister”, Monsignor Paul Gallagherduring the mass with the Community of Sant’Egidio: “It is truly sad to see entire populations torn apart by so much suffering caused not by natural disasters or facts that are beyond human power, but by the” hand of man “, by actions not performed in a fit of anger, but carefully calculate and carry out systematically. “
His Republicalso a month ago, it was Monsignor Paolo Pezzi, Metropolitan Archbishop of Moscow, to say that a Vatican mediation between Zelenskij and Putin was not to be excluded. Unofficial channels between the Holy See and the two parties are undoubtedly there, but a more decisive descent into the field on the model of what happened between Cuba and the USA, or in Colombia, is not on the agenda. The Holy See is working with Moscow on a second meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill. But, as the Russian ambassador to the Holy See, Alexander Avdeyev said a few days ago, the preparations are for the next “June-July”.
From Florence, where the Italian bishops convened a conference for peace in the Mediterranean that was held yesterday with all the mayors of the area, the cardinal also spoke Gualtiero Bassettipresident of the CEI: “May non-violence become political practice”, he asked.