LOS ANGELES.–Pope Francis, 87, said publicly that the time has come for Ukraine’s 46-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept defeat in Ukraine and have the courage to negotiate the best possible settlement. If you listen to 81-year-old President Joe Biden, you’d think the time is urgent to escalate the Ukraine War seeking another $60 billion to battle the Kremlin. Pope Francis wanted Zelensky to know that the character of a leader knows when it’s time for war and time for peace, and the time for peace is long overdue after over two destructive years of war leaving Ukraine in ruins. Speaking to Swiss broadcaster RSI, Francis said there’s no shame in recognizing that peace offers more possible dividends that continuing a war that done nothing but destroy more infrastructure, kill more civilians and drive more citizens into exile in Poland and other countries.
Biden and Zelensky keep gaslighting Congress and the European Parliament into believing all they need are more cash-and-weapons to drive Russia out of Ukraine. But instead of driving Russia out of Ukraine, two years of war with the Kremlin has lost 20% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, but, more importantly, destroyed much of Ukraine’s infrastructure, bankrupting the economy. Zelensky depends now on U.S. government largess to pay his salary and pension and those of Ukraine’s civil servants. “I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag and negotiate,” Francis said, encouraging both sides to let the U.N. handle the peacemaking. Zelensky has set intolerable conditions for peace, including have all Russian troops out of Ukraine, a complete nonstarter.
Francis said from the beginning to the conflict that the U.S. pushed Russian to invade by encroaching on Russia’s national security. Biden insisted from Day One that the Feb. 24, 2022 Ukraine war was a naked land grab by Russia. But Putin warned Biden for months that he needed to renegotiate new security arrangement in Ukraine or he would be forced to implement as “special military operation” for the purpose of de-fanging the Ukraine military after getting armed to the teeth by the U.S. government. Francis tries to remind the European Union and world that there’s a way out of the conflict through neutral peace talks. Biden and Zelensky have refused any of the peace plans on the table, calling on both sides compromise to end the conflict for the sake of peace on the European Continent. Pope Francis asks Zelensky to do the unthinkable, throw in the towel.
At the time of the invasion, Francis was the only Western leader admitting that NATO was “barkng at Russia’s door” with its eastward expansion, deviating from promises made during the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Francis was accused by some in the West of taking Russia’s side. Vatican Spokesman Matteo Buni said the Pope used the term “while flag” because it was used by the Swiss RSI interviewer, not something that Pope Francis introduced. “When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have the courage to negotiated,” Pope Francis said. “Negotiations are never a surrender,” telling Zelensky to do what’s right for his people not for politicians trying to save face. Zelensky has so far taken as much U.S. and EU cash as he can get, refusing to admit that he’s badly overmatched in the war no matter how much cash-and-arms he gets from the U.S. and NATO.
Pope Francis is trying his best to talk some sense into Biden and Zelensky, refusing to move the over two-year war to the peace table. Zelensky keeps telling U.S. and EU officials that his counteroffensive is eventually going to drive Russian troops out of Ukraine. But after a yearlong counteroffensive, Russia has taken the battlefield initiative, continuing to seize more sovereign territory and dig in. “Today, for example, in the war in Ukraine, there are many who want to mediate,” Pope Francis said. “Turkey has offered itself for this. And others. Do not be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse,” Francis told Zelensky. Zelensky has rejected all peace plans because he thinks he has a blank check from Biden to prosecute the war. But with U.S. Congress reluctant to give him another $60 billion, Zelensky needs to serious reconsider his war strategy.
One thing Biden made clear in the State-of-the-Union speech is that he intends to fund the Ukraine War for the foreseeable future. Biden sees no end in sight believing his own disinformation and propaganda that 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to take over Europe and beyond. Justifying the war with the Kremlin, Biden and Zelensky tell Congress and the European Parliament that Putin repeats the same patter as Hitler did in 1939 when he invaded Poland and Czechoslovakia. Comparison like are preposterous, gaslighting the U.S. and EU into Biden and Zelensky’s excuse for war. Putin has made clear he wants the U.S. to stop arming Ukraine, if they want the war to end peacefully. Biden and Zelensky ignore Pope Francis at their own peril. Pope Francis wants to protect European Catholics from the very real prospects of WW III.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in natonal and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
