Pope’s words trigger horror
Strack-Zimmermann “is ashamed as a Catholic”
March 10, 2024, 1:55 p.m
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With his call for peace negotiations in the Ukraine war, Pope Francis is causing a scandal. Sharp criticism and angry reactions come from Germany, Poland and Ukraine. The pontiff is accused of siding with the aggressor Putin with his statements.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has criticized Pope Francis’ call for negotiations after more than two years of war in Ukraine. “To compensate, how about encouraging Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Then peace would come immediately, without the need for negotiations,” Sikorski wrote on X. Poland is one of the most committed politically and militarily Supporter of Ukraine attacked by Russia. The EU and NATO member has taken in almost a million refugees from its eastern neighbor.
In Ukraine, the term “white flag” used by the Pope was understood as a call to surrender and triggered angry reactions. “It seems strange that the Pope does not call for the defense of Ukraine, does not condemn Russia as an aggressor who is killing tens of thousands of people,” wrote former MP and Deputy Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko on Pope describes a “little faith” with a word from the Bible. Kiev officials have not yet commented. Previous Pope statements have already given Ukrainians the feeling that Francis has more understanding for Russia than for their attacked country.
“Why in God’s name”?
The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann sharply contradicted Pope Francis’ appeal for peace negotiations in the Ukraine war. “Before the Ukrainian victims raise the white flag, the Pope should loudly and unmistakably call on the brutal Russian perpetrators to take down their pirate flag – the symbol of death and Satan,” said the chairwoman of the Bundestag Defense Committee to the Funke newspapers Media group. “And why in God’s name doesn’t he condemn the verbal, murderous incitement of Kirill I, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and ex-KGB agent, against the Ukrainian people?” asked Strack-Zimmermann. She added: “I’m ashamed as a Catholic that he doesn’t do that.
Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt also contradicts Pope Francis’ call that Ukraine should give up its defense against Russia and have the courage to raise the “white flag”. “Nobody wants peace more than Ukraine,” says the Green politician to the Editorial Network Germany (RND). There has been war on their territory for ten years and countless people have been killed. However, Göring-Eckardt added: “It is Vladimir Putin who can immediately end the war and the suffering – not Ukraine. Anyone who demands that Ukraine simply surrender is giving the aggressor what he has illegally taken and accepts the annihilation of Ukraine.”
Göring-Eckardt emphasizes: “Peace will and must be negotiated – but on an equal footing.” Because there can only be peace if it is just, it must not question the existence and identity of Ukraine. Russia must also be held responsible for its war crimes.
“Failure of the Roman Catholic Church”
“Incredible, the head of the Catholic Church is on the side of the aggressor,” wrote CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter on X. The Pope is thus providing Russian President Vladimir Putin with a “blueprint for further action.” CDU member of the Bundestag Matthias Heuer also wrote on X: “The Pope is advising Ukraine to exist under a Russian dictatorship.” Heuer added: “As a Catholic Christian, I am once again ashamed of the failure of the Roman Catholic Church in a central position.”
The President of the Evangelical Church Congress 2025 in Hanover, Anja Siegesmund, told the RND: “The longing for peace must not lead to the right of the supposedly stronger one winning.” Anyone who defends their own freedom needs the support of everyone who now lives in freedom. “We continue to stand by Ukraine,” emphasized Siegesmund
The Pope said in an interview on Swiss television published in advance at the weekend: “When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate.” Without directly naming either of the two parties to the conflict, Russia or Ukraine, he added that without negotiations the situation could become even worse, which is why we should not be ashamed of that.
Vatican seeks clarification
In the interview, Francis is also asked about demands from Ukraine for “the courage to surrender, to raise the white flag,” which others see as legitimizing the stronger side. To this the Pope answers in general: “It’s a question of perspective. But I think that the stronger is the one who recognizes the situation, who thinks about the people, who has the courage of the white flag to negotiate.”
Meanwhile, the Vatican is trying to capture Pope Francis’ statement. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni later said in a statement published by Vatican News that Francis had spoken of the “white flag” “to signify a cessation of hostilities, a ceasefire achieved with the courage to negotiate.” Bruni reiterated the pope’s call for a “diplomatic solution in search of a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.