Vatican backtracks after pope’s Ukraine ‘white flag’ blunder

Days after Pope Francis called for Ukraine to wave a “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia, the Vatican on Tuesday backtracked and urged Moscow to first halt its “unjust” invasion.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state and second-highest ranking official after Francis, told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that Russia “should first and foremost cease fire,” calling the country the “aggressor” and the war in Ukraine “unjust.”

“The war unleashed against Ukraine is not the effect of an uncontrollable natural disaster but of human freedom alone, and the same human will that caused this tragedy also has the possibility and responsibility to take steps to put an end to it and pave the way to a diplomatic solution,” he said.

The urgent clarification came after Francis was asked in an interview with a Swiss public broadcaster about calls for Ukraine to surrender to Russia and said he believes “those who have the courage to raise the white flag and to negotiate are stronger,” in remarks which appeared to echo Kremlin talking points.

His comments sparked outrage in Kyiv, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying in a statement that it’s Russia “who has to stop for the war to end,” and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba proclaiming that Ukraine “shall never raise any other flags” except its national flag.

Ukraine’s allies also hit out, with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stating she “didn’t understand” the pope’s comments, and Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs saying, “One must not capitulate in face of evil, one must fight it and defeat it, so that the evil raises the white flag and capitulates.”

Parolin compared Russia’s war in Ukraine to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, saying both situations “have dangerously expanded beyond any acceptable limit” and will cause “repercussions in several countries.”