Pope Francis was wrong to suggest that Kiev should restart negotiations with Moscow, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has said. The pontiff ruffled some feathers in Ukraine this week by speaking about the importance of having “the courage of the white flag.”
“When it comes to the white flag, we know this Vatican’s strategy from the first half of the twentieth century,” Kuleba wrote on X (formerly Twitter), apparently referring to the policy of neutrality pursued by Pope Pius XII during World War II.
Kuleba urged the Vatican to “avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine and its people.”
“Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags,” the minister wrote.
In an interview with Swiss broadcaster RSI published on Saturday, the pontiff urged to have “the courage of the white flag,” and suggested that the parties should restart peace talks.
Pope’s spokesman Matteo Bruni later clarified that the term “white flag” was first used by the interviewer, and that Francis had stressed that “negotiations are never a surrender.” Bruni added that the pope hopes that “a little bit of humanity can be found that allows the creation of the conditions for a diplomatic solution in search of a just and lasting peace.”