The audience granted a few days ago by Pope Francis to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky transcended the scope of an ordinary meeting. Pope Francis is a man of peace who just like the Catholic Church, and all churches and religions, disallows and fights injustice. As for President Zelensky, he is a statesman who unhesitatingly defended the identity and the sovereignty of his country. This highly symbolic meeting overrode the Vatican’s protocol and the jam-packed agenda, and included an appointment with Mgr. Paul Richard Gallagher, Minister of Foreign Affairs within the Holy See. Was Zelensky’s visit to the Vatican a clerical support for the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, or was it a step taken towards restoring the peace between the two countries? Or maybe between Russia and the rest of the world?
The answer to this question is somehow complex. One of the Church’s main missions is to persistently advocate for peaceful conflicts resolution, away from all forms of violence. This historically rooted approach does not imply the approval of injustice, authoritarianism, the disregard for international law nor the undermining of nations’ sovereignty. Therefore, there are opposing views regarding this war across different churches. On the one hand, the Russian Orthodox Church perceives the Russian intervention in Syria as a holy war and the offensive against Ukraine as religiously and nationally legitimate. On the other hand, the Catholic Church, including other Orthodox and Evangelical Churches, have refrained from legitimizing violence. All these houses of worship have unequivocally condemned the Russian attack against Ukraine. They denounced the immorality of this war:the notion of profound ethics, be it geopolitical or spiritual, is fundamental. The ones who might not fully understand or accept this position, will seek to morally discredit those who endorse it. However, in the end, history ends up doing right by those who go to extremes looking for the truth, and act accordingly.
To this end, Pope Francis firmly maintains his objection to injustice while emphasizing the fact that wars only breed devastation. On the other hand, the Ukrainian President, backed by an international community baffled by the outcome of this war of attrition, firmly defends his country’s sovereignty. The meeting between these two leaders, who come from extremely different backgrounds in more ways than one, was undeniably a chance to discuss the alternatives for ending the conflict, as Pope Francis is a man of peace and a peacemaker.
Going into war was a decision imposed on President Zelensky. It remains unclear whether a dialogue will be established between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, given their historical roles regarding peace-building and social welfare. Where do the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Churches of Ukraine stand at this point, and what can they actively achieve on the ground? In order for these factors to have an effective role, to find a solution to this war, for Ukraine to assert its identity and sovereignty, and finally for Russia to come to its senses, geopolitics and religion have to meet half-way. Eurasia embodies the notion of a noble ideal, which has however, evolved into a belligerent ideology hidden under a religious cloak. This by itself can be qualified as a capital sin.
(*) Executive Director of the Civic Influence Hub – (CIH) / Public Policy Expert.
