'White flag': Pope leaves bitter legacy in Ukraine

A portrait of the late Pope Francis at San Jose de Flores Basilica in Buenos Aires on April 24, 2025. [AFP] As Catholics around the world mourn Pope Francis, many Ukrainians will remember him bitterly for failing to blame Russia for its invasion and calling for Ukraine to raise the "white flag". President Volodymyr Zelensky will be one of the prominent mourners at Saturday's funeral for Francis, even though the pope never visited Ukraine and critics said he echoed Kremlin talking points by saying the war was "provoked" and portraying it as part of a wider global confrontation. Speaking to AFP, a senior Ukrainian official said the Argentine pontiff had been shaped by Marxist-influenced ideas and showed an "absolute ignorance of this part of the world". "He did not really understand and was not even trying to understand what was happening here," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. At the same time, Ukrainian officials have recognised the Vatican's efforts in mediating prisoner exchanges and the return of children taken from occupied parts of Ukraine to Russia. Zelensky said Francis had "prayed for peace in Ukraine". But the official said the pope "could have done incomparably more for Ukraine", for example, by persuading countries of the global south to support Ukraine's struggle. Above all, the official said, Francis "refused to make a clear distinction" between Russia as the aggressor and Ukraine as the victim of the invasion. 'Not a cowboy film' There was frustration soon after the start of the invasion in February 2022 when the Vatican asked two lifelong friends, a Russian woman and a Ukrainian woman, to carry a cross together during a Good Friday ceremony attended by Francis in Rome. The initiative, intended as a gesture of reconciliation, was not well received in Ukraine. Ukrainian media boycotted the broadcast of the ceremony. The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Bishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, denounced an "inappropriate, premature and ambiguous idea, which does not take into account the context of Russia's military aggression". Over more than three years of war, the pope repeatedly called for peace in Ukraine but stopped short of a clear condemnation of Russian actions, saying the war was "not a cowboy film with goodies and baddies". His comments in an interview with Swiss broadcaster RTS in March 2024 proved incendiary in Ukraine. "I think whoever sees the situation, thinks about the population, and dares to raise the white flag is stronger," the pope said. "You see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, dare to negotiate," he said. Ukraine's then-foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba slammed the comments. "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," Kuleba said. He also referred to historical accusations of inaction by the Catholic Church against Nazi Germany. "When it comes to the white flag, we know this Vatican strategy from the first half of the 20th century," he said, urging the Holy See to "avoid repeating the mistakes of the past". 'A political leader' Analyst Mykola Davydiuk said Ukrainians had high expectations that Francis could be like late Pope John Paul II, who is credited with helping to bring to an end Communism in eastern Europe. "Ukrainians saw the role of the Pope as a political leader," he said. "And when the pope did not do this, it was very strange for Ukrainians." Volodymyr Fesenko, a political expert, agreed that many people became frustrated with the pope's "abstract peacemaking statements that seemed capitulatory to Ukrainians". Fesenko said the pope's statements showed he was "more interested in Russia" and that the next pope should "pay more attention to Ukraine". There was a mix of praise and criticism of Francis's legacy on Ukrainian social media ahead of his funeral on Saturday, which is due to be attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Igor Lachenkov, a popular Ukrainian blogger, posted a critical meme about the pope's death, accompanied by the song "Highway to Hell".

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