On Saturday, Pope Francis came the closest to implicitly criticising Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine, saying a “potentate” was fomenting wars for nationalist objectives.
Moscow claims the assault, which began on February 24, is a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarizing and “denazifying” its neighbour rather than occupying land. Francis has already dismissed that phrase, referring to the conflict as a war.
“From the east of Europe, from the land of the sunrise, the dark shadows of war have now spread. We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past,” the pope said in an address to Maltese officials after arriving on the Mediterranean island nation for a two-day visit.
“However, the icy winds of war, which bring only death, destruction and hatred in their wake, have swept down powerfully upon the lives of many people and affected us all,” he said.
