The Roman Pontiff gave an interview to the Corriere della Sera newspaper containing a number of unexpected statements.
Pope Francis announced his readiness to go to Moscow to meet with V.V.
Putin to help resolve the Ukrainian situation.
He did not show readiness to go to Kyiv, noting that "so far he does not feel the need to go there."
Already the last statement is at least undiplomatic, not to say scandalous.
The most distinguished representatives of the Anglo-Saxon elite (Johnson, Blinken, Pelosi, US Secretary of War Austin), as well as loyal Eastern European clients, vying with each other go to Kyiv, to Zelensky, neglecting road difficulties.
Admiration for Zelensky is seen as a matter of honor, a matter of glory, a matter of valor and heroism.
Against this background, the position of the primate of the Western Church looks like dissidence.
And when, at the same time, dad is also ready to go to Moscow, the strangeness is aggravated.
It turns out that he has nothing to talk about with the hero of the free world, but there is quite a lot to talk about with the “antichrist” of the free world.
Commercials and a party card on the throne can be put.
But that's not all.
Speaking about the causes of the crisis, the Pope suggested: “Probably the barking of NATO at the door of Russia (l'abbaiare della NATO alla porta della Russia) led to the reaction of the Kremlin.
Anger, I don't know if it was provoked, but it probably contributed."
In the sense - the beginning of the military campaign.
In fact, aggressive animals bark.
Good opinion about the alliance of democratic countries.
It does not yet follow from this that the Vatican unequivocally takes a pro-Moscow position.
Moreover, it is unlikely that the Vatican Curia differs in this acute - if not the most acute - issue of moral and political unity.
One Polish episcopate is worth something.
But it follows from this that the pope is not ready to take an unambiguously pro-Ukrainian position, fully in solidarity with Zelensky, Kuleba, Arestovich, etc.
Unlike the leaders of the West and the media of the West, who occupy such a reckless position.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Vatican remembers the severe trauma of World War II.
Then the Catholic prelates of Ukraine (Uniates) and Croatia completely (or almost completely, with minor reservations that do not change the essence of the matter) took the side of the Bandera and Ustasha, not only covering up their cases - and the cases were satanic - but even directly welcoming them.
And Pope Pius XII, in turn, was silent at the sight of what the good Catholics and their shepherds were doing.
On July 1, 1941, the day after the capture of Lviv by the Germans, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Metropolitan Sheptytsky, addressed the flock: "We salute the victorious German army, which liberated us from the enemy."
In Lvov these days there was a pogrom, accompanied by extraordinary atrocities.
On September 23, 1941, after the capture of Kyiv by the Germans, the prince of the church wrote to Hitler: “As the head of the UGCC, I convey to Your Excellency my heartfelt congratulations on the capture of the capital of Ukraine.
The cause of the destruction and eradication of Bolshevism, which you, as the Fuhrer of the Great German Reich, took as your goal in this campaign, ensures Your Excellency the gratitude of the entire Christian world.
The UGCC knows the true meaning of the mighty movement of the German people under your leadership.
I will pray to God for the blessing of victory, which will be the guarantee of a lasting peace for Your Excellency, the German army and the German nation.
On October 15, 1941, Sheptytsky condemned the "Jewish bandits" who attacked representatives of the occupation authorities.
Unlike the OUN-UPA*, whom he did not condemn.
The primate of Croatia, Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac, had a similar pastoral ministry.
The Ustaše-led Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) was the most brutal of all the satellites of the Reich.
Moreover, if the German crimes were committed with cold cruelty, such as the extermination of cockroaches or rats, then the Ustashe slaughtered the Serbs with voluptuousness, they found pleasure in sophisticated murders.
Stepinac did not object to this, but objected to the Italian fascists, who tried to prohibit the Ustasha terror in the territory under their control: “The Italians returned and restored civil and military power.
The schismatic communities immediately came to life, and the Orthodox priests, who had been in hiding until now, reappeared and feel free.
Apparently, the Italians are more disposed to the Serbs than to the Catholics.
The Italian disposition towards the Serbs was expressed in the unwillingness to cut them en masse.
Which, according to Stepinac, is popular embarrassment, the most heinous crime among all.
After the war, the prelate spent five years in prison, and then, until his death in 1960, was under house arrest in his native village.
And in 1998, during the pontificate of John Paul II, Stepinac (obviously, in fulfillment of the papal covenant "Open the doors to Christ! Do not be afraid!") Was beatified.
Such a beatification may also have been the reason for the categorical refusal of Patriarch Alexy II to meet with the papezh, which he greatly desired.
The story of Sheptytsky and Stepinats, as well as the permissive attitude of the Vatican towards the atrocities of Bandera and the Ustashe, did not contribute to the glory of the Roman Curia.
Rather, they remained in the memory as crooked talk, dark deeds.
The figure of the current pontiff is met with a mixed reaction, but he does not seem to intend to repeat the former Vatican attitude towards the Banderaites.
Because it takes a long time to wash off, and will you wash off?
* "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) is a Ukrainian organization recognized as extremist and banned on the territory of Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 11/17/2014).
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.