VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis called for Ukraine to find “the courage of the white flag” and negotiate with Russia to end the war, the Vatican said.

 The pontiff, speaking during an interview on Swiss television, labelled war as “madness” and urged for negotiations between warring countries and groups. He argued that to learn we must look at history, saying all wars “end in agreement,” and said that leaders should “not be ashamed to negotiate” before the situation gets worse.

 The pope said that Ukraine should “find the courage of the white flag” and have the “courage to negotiate” with Russia, stressing that people and citizens of the country must be put first and killing must be stopped.

 The head of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni, clarified that the pope used the term “white flag”, a term suggested by the interviewer, “to indicate the cessation of hostilities,” and not as a suggestion that Ukraine should surrender. Bruni also emphasised that the pontiff was talking about “any war situation." However, this is seemingly another step in worsening of relations between Ukraine and the Vatican, which have been progressively deteriorating since outbreak of war in 2022.

 In the interview, the pope went on to criticise other governments’ humanitarian interventions as only sometimes being humanitarian and said often “they are to cover a sense of guilt.”  He reiterated that “behind a war there is the arms industry and that means money”, saying that those who fund war make money from killing and that they are the only ones who win from war. This is a message he has often spoken about, and repeatedly calls for end to all war in his general audiences each week.

 khg