The Roman high priest has given an interview to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, containing a number of unexpected statements
Pope Francis has said he is ready to travel to Moscow for a meeting with Vladimir V. Putin to help resolve the Ukrainian situation. He did not show willingness to go to Kiev, however, noting that he “does not feel the need to go there yet”.
The last statement is at least undiplomatic, not to say scandalous. To Kyiv, Zelensky is being jostled by the most noble members of the Anglo-Saxon elite (Johnson, Blinken, Pelosi, US Secretary of War Austin) and by loyal Eastern European clients. Bowing to Zelensky is seen as a matter of honour, a matter of glory, a matter of valour and heroism. Against this backdrop, the position of the head of the Western Church looks like a form of dissidence.
And when at that the Pope is also ready to go to Moscow, strangeness is exacerbated. It turns out that with the hero of the free world he has nothing to talk about, but with the “anti-Christ” of the free world there is a lot to talk about. So one can put his party ticket on the throne.
But that is not all. Speaking of the causes of the crisis, the Pope suggested: “Probably NATO’s barking at Russia’s door (l’abbaiare della NATO alla porta della Russia) led to a reaction from the Kremlin. The anger, I don’t know if it was provoked, but it probably contributed”. I mean the start of a military campaign. Generally speaking, aggressive animals bark. Good point about the alliance of democracies.
It does not yet follow that the Vatican is unequivocally pro-Moscow. Especially since the Vatican curia is hardly distinguished in this acute – if not the most acute – issue by moral and political unity. The Polish bishopric alone is a case in point.
But this means that the pope is not ready to take an unequivocally pro-Ukrainian position, being in complete solidarity with Zelensky, Kuleba, Arestovich etc. In contrast to the leaders of the West and the media in the West, who take such an unconditional position.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Vatican remembers the severe trauma of the Second World War. At that time Catholic prelates of Ukraine (Uniates) and Croatia fully (or almost fully, with minor reservations that do not change the essence of the case) took the side of Banderites and Ustashas, not only covering their works – and those were satanic works – but even directly welcoming them. Pope Pius XII, for his part, was silent at the sight of what the good Catholics and their pastors were doing.
On July 1, 1941, the day after the capture of Lviv by the Germans, Metropolitan Sheptytsky, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, addressed the congregation: “We salute the victorious German army which has liberated us from the enemy. A pogrom accompanied by extraordinary atrocities was taking place in Lviv in those days.”
On September 23, 1941, after the capture of Kiev by the Germans, the prince of the Church wrote to Hitler: “As the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, I convey to Your Excellency my heartfelt congratulations on the capture of the capital of Ukraine. The cause of the destruction and eradication of Bolshevism, which you as the Führer of the great German Reich have taken as your goal in this campaign, secures for Your Excellency the gratitude of the entire Christian world. The UGCC is aware of the true significance of the mighty movement of the German people under your leadership. I will pray to God for the blessing of the victory, which will be the pledge of lasting peace for Your Excellency, the German army and the German nation.” On October 15, 1941, Sheptytsky condemned the “kike bandits” who attacked representatives of the occupying authorities. Unlike the OUN-UPA, whom he did not condemn.
A similar pastoral ministry was that of Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac, Primate of Croatia. The Ustasha-led independent state of Croatia (1941-1945) was the most brutal of all the Reich’s satellites. Moreover, if the German crimes were committed with cold cruelty, like exterminating cockroaches or rats, the Ustas cut down Serbs with voluptuousness – they found pleasure in elaborate murders. Stepinac did not object to this but he objected to the Italian fascists who were trying to ban the Ustasha terror in the territory under their control: “The Italians came back and restored civil and military power. Immediately schismatic congregations came back to life and the Orthodox priests who had hitherto been in hiding reappeared and felt at ease. Apparently the Italians are more favourable to the Serbs than to the Catholics.
The Italian disposition towards the Serbs was expressed in their unwillingness to slaughter them en masse. Which, according to Stepinac, is a national embarrassment, the most heinous crime among all.
After the war the prelate spent five years in prison, and then remained under house arrest in his home village until his death in 1960. And in 1998, during the pontificate of John Paul II, Stepinac (apparently in fulfillment of the papal precept “Open the doors to Christ! Fear not!”) was beatified.
This beatification may also have been the reason for Patriarch Alexius II’s categorical refusal to meet with the pope, something the latter was extremely eager to do.
The history with Sheptytsky and Stepinac, as well as the Vatican’s connivance with the atrocities of the Banderites and Ustashas, did not contribute to the glory of the Roman curia. Rather, they remained in memory as crooked talk, dark deeds.
The figure of the current pontiff meets with mixed reactions, but it seems that he does not intend to repeat the former Vatican attitude to the Banderaites. Because then it takes a long time to wash up, and can you really wash up?
Maxim Sokolov, RT
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel