Good guys, bad guys

In the exchange, the pope warned against “simplistic” thinking about the war, as if it were a "cowboy movie where there are good guys and bad guys." Instead, he said, it was important “to investigate the dynamics” that caused the war, which he summed up as “imperialisms in conflict.”

The pontiff blamed the war on the competition between rival imperial powers.

Rather than focusing on Russia’s decision to invade its neighbor, the pontiff blamed the war on the competition between rival imperial powers, declaring that when they "feel threatened and in decline, the imperialisms react thinking that the solution is to wage a war […] and also to sell and test weapons.”

By any reading, we must assume that said "imperialisms" (plural) in decline are Russia and the U.S.-led West. It is a view of the war that appears to divide blame between the two, offering an alibi to Putin and other apologists of the invasion at a moment when Russia has just annexed four regions in southern and eastern Ukraine.

Putin loves to cite Western imperialism too

At Friday’s annexation ceremony at the Kremlin, Putin painted a picture of Russia defending itself against Western imperialism, addressing the “Kyiv authorities and their real masters in the West.”

The Russian leader offered a take on history that the Argentine-born pope might recognize: “The West began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages,” Putin declared. “For the sake of land and resources, they hunted people like animals.”

Then speaking specifically of the United States, he added: “Even today, they actually occupy Germany, Japan, South Korea, and other countries, and at the same time cynically call them allies of equal standing. The dictatorship of the Western elites is directed against all societies, including the peoples of the Western countries themselves. This is a challenge to all.”

Last spring, when he was criticized for his reaction to the war, Francis made a point of declaring that he was “not pro-Putin!,” which his comments Sunday do well to confirm.

False equivalencies

Yet his ideas about the causes of the war, and the false equivalencies of blame, risk serving the storyline of the Kremlin. They are an expression of a long-standing tendency in parts of the world, including the pope’s native Argentina, to see U.S. power as the driving explanation for virtually everything that goes wrong in the world.

Yes, U.S. and Western imperialism exists, and has caused far too much suffering over the years, with the war in Iraq as only the most obvious example. And yes, the military-industrial complex is also real, and no doubt certain arms manufacturers are gladly profiting from the current war.

In his attempt to not be “simplistic,” Francis actually makes just the opposite point.

But this is not why blood is being spilled in Ukraine. There is exactly one declining empire — and would-be emperor — that wanted this war.

The extent of how misguided the pope’s thinking is can be seen in the final remarks to the group of Jesuit priests, where he cited the arms manufacturers interests in having wars: “Some say, for example, that the Spanish Civil War was started to prepare for World War II. I do not know if that was really the case, but it could have been.”

In his attempt to not be “simplistic,” Francis’ strange historical analogy actually makes just the opposite point about the current conflict. World War II was being “prepared” in and by Nazi Germany. So yes, we should think hard about how factors below the surface move events. But sometimes, the truth — even in war — is plain to see.