Pope Francis wants to travel to Moscow to meet Putin

While the war in Ukraine reminds him of the tragedy in Rwanda, the pope also wants to attempt mediation in order to stop the fighting. In an interview with the Italian daily The Corriere della Sera published on Tuesday, François says he is ready to go to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Referring to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, François claims to have “called on the phone” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “on the first day of the war”. “However, I did not call Putin. I had spoken to him in December, for my birthday, but this time no, I did not call”.

The specter of the 1994 genocide

“Subsequently, after 20 days of war, I asked Cardinal (Pietro) Parolin”, number two of the Vatican, “to send Putin the message that I was ready to go to Moscow”, specifies the sovereign pontiff. “We have not yet received a response and we are still insisting, although I am afraid that Putin cannot and does not want to have this meeting now.”

For the pope, however, there is urgency. “How do we fail to stop all this brutality? We saw the same thing 25 years ago with Rwanda”, he notes, referring to the 1994 genocide during which 800,000 people, mainly from the Tutsi minority, were killed, according to the UN.

Wrath of Poland

Wondering about the causes of the conflict, the spiritual leader of Catholics evokes an “anger” from the Kremlin that may have been “facilitated” by “NATO’s barking at Russia’s door”, remarks which provoked strong reactions from the Polish authorities. “Certainly, many of us take our heads in our hands when hearing what the pope has said”, reacted on public television the Polish Minister of Education, Przemyslaw Czarnek.

If the services of the Vatican allowed these words to pass “about the barking (…) of NATO, in other words of the eastern flank, therefore also of Poland, then the pope quite simply wanted to say so”. And, added the Minister, “by that very fact he offended us, the Poles”.

The sovereign pontiff also ruled out going “for the moment” to kyiv, despite invitations from the Ukrainians. “I feel that I should not go there”, he insists, while recalling having sent two cardinals there. “I have to go to Moscow first, I have to meet Putin first.”

Finally, in The Corriere della Sera, the pope also evokes an interview by videoconference with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and supporter of Vladimir Putin. “The first twenty minutes, with a paper in hand, he read me all sorts of justifications for the war. I listened and I said to him: “I don’t understand any of this. We cannot use the language of politics but that of Jesus”. It remains to be seen now whether this message will be relayed to the master of the Kremlin.