Pope: NATO caused invasion of Ukraine

POLITICO, May 3, 2022; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Pope says NATO may have caused Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Pope Francis [Vatican CEO and titular head of the Holy Roman Empire's Catholic Church] says transatlantic military alliance was "barking" at Russia’s door.

Since the incursion or invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, Pope Francis has repeatedly criticized it, while avoiding naming Russian President Putin explicitly.

I may be seriously ill, propagandists say.

Holy See, ROME — Pope Francis said that NATO “barking” at Russia’s door may have led to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — and said he has offered to meet the Russian president in Moscow.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Pope Francis reflected on Russia’s lethal aggression toward its neighbor and said while he might not go as far as saying NATO’s presence in nearby countries “provoked” Moscow, it “perhaps facilitated” the invasion.

Pope Francis also condemned the “brutality” of the war and compared it to Rwanda’s civil war in the 1990s, which resulted in a genocide of the Tutsi minority.

The Holy See [a tiny country in the middle of Rome where the formerly Mithraic religion held sway and the Vatican now sits] has been asking since mid-March for a meeting between Pope Francis and Pres. Putin in Moscow, the pope said.

• Pope Francis said that the “barking of NATO at the door of Russia” might have led to the invasion of Ukraine and that he didn't know whether other countries should supply Ukraine with more arms. The pope at the same time deplored the brutality of the war and criticized the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church [Patriarch Kirill of Moscow] for defending the invasion in religious terms: Pope says NATO [and the USA] might have provoked Russian invasion of Ukraine (WSJ.com)

“Of course, we needed the leader of the Kremlin to allocate a window of time. We haven’t yet had any response, and we are still trying, even if I fear that Putin can’t and doesn’t want to have this meeting at this time.”

In the interview, Pope Francis ruled out going to Kyiv (Kiev, Ukraine) for now: “First I have to go to Moscow; first I have to meet Putin.”

Pope Francis said he had canceled a meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a key backer of Pres. Putin who has justified the war, as they both thought it would look “ambiguous” — but in a phone call said he warned Kirill not to “turn himself into Putin’s altar boy.” 

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis has repeatedly criticized the invasion, while avoiding naming Pres. Putin explicitly, in line with the Vatican’s foreign policy of keeping the door open for possible dialogue.

The Russian embassy to the Holy See did not immediately respond to phone calls or an emailed request for comment. A spokesman for the Vatican did not respond to request for comment. Pope says NATO may have caused Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – POLITICO