Pope Francis says Ukraine war "perhaps somehow either provoked or not prevented"

[867-5309.]

Source: CBS News

Pope Francis has told a group of European Jesuit news editors that the war in Ukraine was "perhaps somehow either provoked or not prevented," and he cautioned against oversimplifying the conflict.

In an interview published Tuesday in the Jesuit publication "La Civilta' Cattolica," the pope said that in Russia's war on Ukraine, "there are no metaphysical good guys and bad guys, in an abstract sense."

He said that months before the war, a head of state warned him that NATO was "barking at the gates of Russia," and that Russia would not tolerate it, which could lead to war.

The leader, who Francis did not identify, "was able to read the signs of what was taking place," the pontiff said...

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-ukraine-war-russia-putin-perhaps-somehow-provoked-not-prevented/

[sakabatou]

1. Get off your high horse, Francis! Russia was the aggressor!

[brush]

31. Yep, he needs to stay in his lane...

and this definitely ain't it.

[msongs]

2. 2000 years of rape torture and murder fogs the perspective nt

[Skittles]

3. why do people listen to this drivel

ugh

[sprinkleeninow]

4. Speaking from both sides of mouth.

[NullTuples]

30. That's been his modus operandi since day one

My coworker & I used to take his really good sounding, very PR polished, press-released pronouncements ("Who am I to judge&quot and then have a race to see who spotted the opposite message given only to the Faithful, and not immediately translated and fed to the press. The usual gap between the two pronouncements was about two weeks.

[Orrex]

5. Disband that centuries-old international sex crime racket immediately

Jail the perpetrators and the enablers, seize all assets, and use them to benefit survivors of abuse.


Frank has a lot to say about shit that's none of his business (economics, politics, etc.) and precious little to say about shit that he can directly influence (pedophile priests, LGBTQ persecution, oppression of women, etc.)

This particular rant is unsurprising and predictable

[COL Mustard]

6. Lighten Up, Francis.

Rape victims shouldn't be told to lie back and enjoy it either.

[Irish_Dem]

7. So Russians who rape and murder 3 yr olds are not bad guys?

I used to like Pope Francis but his comments are totally heinous.

[LoisB]

11. +1000

[Rebl2]

14. Absolutely!

How can he think that Russia was not the aggressor? He is being fed lies.

[colorado_ufo]

19. Was he aware of this? It's possible that news is filtered to him.

His response is incredibly disappointing and seems to differ from his original comments.

[Irish_Dem]

23. The atrocities have been widely reported in the media.

He has to know about what the Russian soldiers are doing to Ukraine citizens.

Yes he seems to have flipped over to the dark side.
I wonder why?

[Martin68]

8. Francis has a been misinformed.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

9. What the hell does one even say to this?

He thinks Russia was provoked? He stands with Russia?

Remember when this guy was seen as a new, hip, progressive pope who would change the church and use his pulpit for good? Yeah. Me too. Pepperidge Farm remembers too.

Not that I bought it...

Now just to sit back and wait for him to jump on the LGBTQ's are groomers bandwagon in 3... 2... 1... Which would be real rich coming from him.

[LudwigPastorius]

10. Part of being a free, sovereign nation is being able to choose your allies.

If Ukraine was making overtures to NATO, that was their business, not Russia's.

And, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the metaphysical bad guys are the ones who invaded, destroyed homes, stole crops, and raped and murdered civilians.

You're not helping, Frankie.

[Javaman]

12. he's trying to make nice with the russian orthodox church.

prior to the war, the vatican and the russian orthodox started talking again after a very very long time.

the war has taken a giant shit on that because the RO is in full support of putin.

the pope has come out as against war, siting war atrocities

now he's starting to look at the "other side of war" because the RO probably were telling him to go fuck himself again

so what is a pope to do?

he makes nice with the right wing dark order of putin supporting RO.

and here we are.

oh he makes nice because of him wanting go get a foot in the door to influence "catholics" in russia for...what else? money

[Irish_Dem]

24. Everywhere politics/power are more important than people.

Even more important than the lives of children.

[AntiFascist]

13. Recall when Catholics supported Hitler n/t

[SunSeeker]

15. Try again, Francis. nt

[Gore1FL]

16. "NATO was 'barking at the gates of Russia'"

WTF does it even mean for a defensive alliance to bark?

[Mr. Evil]

17. Well,

If Pope Frankie is so close to this god thing, why doesn't he just tell him/she/it to stop the war so he can figure it out?

If there ever was a need for a sinkhole it should be right under the Vatican.

[Polybius]

18. Could he be saying this because Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish?

I hope not, but it's suspect.

[turbinetree]

20. Dear pope....... maybe you should speak to the Russian Orthodox Church......that is backing

an authoritarian narcissistic murderer.......and if you don't know the difference between good and evil.....maybe you didn't see the pictures of men and woman getting there brains blown out and lying on a street in Bucha....by Russian and their mercenaries....

[twodogsbarking]

21. Sick MF.

[ShepKat]

22. there they go AGAIN protecting criminals

I am thoroughly disappointed thinking this one was different somehow.
Yeah, dude... they asked for genocide.

strong language- pretty sure the people here can take it.

If this song offends more than the point of the song... well, he explains it.
[link:

|

[myohmy2]

25. "...NATO was "barking at the gates of Russia,"..."

...the devil made putin do it

...

[twodogsbarking]

26. Rapes of young people could have been prevented.

But covered up instead.

[lark]

27. Christofascism in action.

Love for the real fascists and disdain for the actual words of Jesus is what characterizes these asses. They are the same ilk that supported Hitler.

[AngryOldDem]

28. A reply in another thread yesterday implied that the comments need to be put into context.

So I looked up the article.

I didn’t see any misconstrued statements. It was in a Q&A format.

Russia was the aggressor here. Can’t whitewash that fact, and I’m not sure what Francis was trying to do with this.

[DFW]

29. Yessireee Boris, it was provoked, alright.

Putin told the Ukrainians, "dismantle your country's government, and give me absolute sovereignty over it!"

The Ukrainians said, "NYET!"

Putin cried, "Provocation!!!" and he invaded.

I mean, how DARE they, right?