Poland’s Foreign Minister to Pope: How About Putin’s Courage to Withdraw Army from Ukraine?

Poland’s Foreign Minister responded on X/Twitter to Pope Francis’ statement that it should have the “courage of the white flag” and negotiate with the Kremlin, remarks that infuriated many Ukrainians, saying perhaps the Pontiff should encourage Putin to have the “courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine.”

Radosław Sikorski, the Polish Foreign Minister responded to the Pope’s words, that some say assume Ukraine is losing, by saying that the onus for ending the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine lies with Putin:

“How about, for balance, encouraging Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Peace would immediately ensue without the need for negotiations,” Sikorski wrote in his post.

In a Kyiv Post article, AFP wrote: “Pope Francis has urged parties in the Ukraine war to ‘have the courage to negotiate,’ and do so ‘before things get worse,’ in an interview broadcast Saturday by Swiss television [public broadcaster RTS].”

The Pope added in his remarks: “Negotiations are never a surrender. It is the courage not to carry a country to suicide,” referring to war in general, including Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine with the current situation between Hamas and Israel.

In his interview with RTS, the Pope also compared Russia’s invasion with the Middle East conflict, saying: “War is made by two, not one. The irresponsible ones are these two who wage war,” with specific reference to Hamas and Israel.

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The Vatican’s director of communications, Matteo Bruni, later issued a statement seeking to clarify the Pope’s words, after widespread public outcry.

Bruni said Francis had used the term white flag “to indicate a cessation of hostilities, a truce reached with the courage of negotiation,” in a statement published by Vatican News.

He repeated the pontiff’s call for a “diplomatic solution in search of a just and lasting peace” in what Francis calls the “martyred” Ukraine.

Business Insider noted in its report on Pope Francis’ statement that, “the pontiff has been consistently criticized for his ambiguous remarks toward Russia’s invasion.”

They recalled that “in August 2022, the pope strained relations with Kyiv after referring to the death of Russian ultra-nationalist Darya Dugina as an innocent victim of war,” when she was killed by a car bomb near Moscow.

“Dugina actively supported her father’s ideology” promoting a renewed Russian Empire. She had also “appeared on Russian state TV promoting Russia’s actions in Ukraine,” Business Insider continued.

“At the time, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Francis' words were ‘unfair’ and had ‘broken Ukraine’s heart’”

In separate posts by Ukrainska Pravda and Business Insider, reports mentioned that Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs also responded to the Pope saying, “You can't capitulate to evil, you have to fight it and defeat it, so that evil raises the white flag and capitulates.”

AFP-contributed content is included in this article with their permission.