On Ukraine, Pope Francis Is Repeating The World War II Sins Of Pius XII

-Analysis-

PARIS — The remark came during his March 9 interview with a Swiss television network: Pope Francis urged Ukraine to have the “courage to raise the white flag” and negotiate with Russia. Was the pontiff showing humanity or naivety? Was he simply being faithful to his spiritual and pastoral function, stressing the sacredness of life above all?

Why continue a battle whose outcome is known in advance — the stronger always wins in the end — and add unnecessary bloodshed? Negotiations are called for, just like a truce in the war in Gaza is the right thing to do.

And yet, it appears that Pope Francis is struggling — particularly on the Ukraine issue — to integrate his thoughts into the tragic dimensions of today’s world? The young Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, adopted this interpretation, and sharply responded to Francis on X, “Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags.”

Could it be that history, with its ever tragic irony, is being repeated in reverse less than a century later? The Deputy, the title of a play by Rolf Hochhuth, performed for the first time in Berlin in February 1963, was the subject of intense controversy. It interrogates the attitude of Pope Pius XII during World War II.

Had Pius XII, because of his fears of Communism, shown too much understanding or compliance toward Nazism, from the mid-1930s until Hitler’s defeat in 1945? And even afterwards, if we consider that Nazi dignitaries benefited from Vatican protection after the fall of the Third Reich?

Now, in an inverse way to Pius XII, is Francis being driven by his resentment towards America and ambivalence towards Europe, which he described in 2016 as “fatigued and old, sterile without vitality,” — and showing too much understanding towards Putin’s Russia? Is the first Latin American Pope, above all, an expression of the emotions of the globalized South, and grievances towards the West and the U.S. in particular?

Poor theology

Would the Argentine Pope and Brazilian President Lula, beyond their ideological differences, share a common denunciation of “gringos” that would lead them to absolve Putin of his sins?

On a societal level as well, there are affinities between the ultra-conservatism of Putin’s Russia and the defense of traditional values put forward, sometimes in a very contradictory manner, by Pope Francis.

One of my close friends, a practicing Catholic from Germany, who has held important government roles, recently told me how difficult it is to be a Catholic today, blaming a pope who doesn’t think enough, and lacks clarity in his thoughts.

Is Pope Francis a poor theologian, the difference between him and his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, or a poor strategist, incapable of grasping that “raising the white flag,” for Ukraine today would be to concede defeat, and accept the victory of force over law, of evil over good? Theological and strategic weaknesses are not necessarily contradictory.

John Paul II, where art thou? 

In the year 2024, we find ourselves asking: “John Paul II, where have you gone?” The Polish pope played a decisive role in the fall of the USSR. “Be not afraid,” he said to the Poles, and beyond, to all Europeans who value freedom and democracy.

How many divisions does the Vatican have?

He was not the main actor in the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but certainly contributed to its collapse, metaphorically speaking. At the time, the Papacy had a clear geopolitical vision: it was not interested in renewing ties with the Russian Orthodox Church, which was too close to Soviet power.

In a famous phrase, supposedly representing his realism and cynicism, Joseph Stalin asked, “how many divisions does the Vatican have?” He did not imagine that these Vatican “divisions,” now very ethically weak, would one day put themselves at the service of the Kremlin, by a mix of fear and resentment, of strategic inexperience and political calculation, even more than of anti-West sentiments.

Is Pope Francis really this naive? The Vicar of Christ, and on another level, the Secretary General of the United Nations, possess a power of indignation that could (or should) bestow a unique moral influence.