In his March 2 letter addressed to Patriarch Kirill, Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki warned that “the time will come to resolve these crimes”, “But, even if someone is able to avoid human justice, there’s a tribunal that can’t be ignored.”
Gadecki’s tone was striking because it was sharply opposed to the relative neutrality of Francis and the Vatican. The Holy See called for peace, humanitarian corridors and a halt to the fighting and offered its mediation services. Francis has not yet publicly condemned Russia for its invasion, or appealed to Kirill. The Vatican also did not comment on Friday’s Russian attack on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
The silence of a pope who declared mere possession of nuclear weapons impure and warned against the use of atomic energy due to the radiation-related environmental danger was more remarkable.
The Vatican believes that quiet diplomacy is better for dialogue and can avoid taking sides or calling out aggressors. The Vatican has used this argument for decades to defend Pope Pius XII (a World War II-era pope who was criticised by some Jewish groups because he didn’t speak out enough against the Holocaust). It claims that quiet diplomacy saved lives in those days, and it continues this tradition with its Cold War Ostpolitik policy.
Last week, Francis made an extraordinary step when he visited the Russian Embassy to Holy See to meet the ambassador. The Vatican did not say anything about the meeting, except that Francis was there to express his concern over the war. He also spoke via phone with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin (the Vatican secretary of State) made an unusual move this week. He said that the war against Ukraine had been “unleashed” by Russia during an interview with four Italian newspapers.
Francis has expressed his desire to improve relations between the Russian Orthodox Church (and its influential leader Kirill) in the case of Ukraine. In December 2016, when Russian invasion fears were already real, Francis expressed his hope for a second meeting. This was after their historic encounter in 2016. It was the first time a pope had met a Russian patriarch in a millennium.
Francis, en route from Greece to Greece, said that a meeting with Patriarch Kirill was not far away. “I am always available and I am willing to travel to Moscow to talk to a brother. There is no need to follow protocols. “A brother is a brother before any protocols.”
The Russian ambassador to Francis, Archbishop Giovanni D’Agnello met with Kirill on Thursday at Kirill’s residence at the Danilov Monastery, Moscow. Kirill’s office stated that the patriarch remembered the “new chapter in history” created by the 2016 meeting. He expressed gratitude for the Holy See’s “moderate, wise position” in resisting being drawn into conflict and insisted that churches can only be peacemakers.
The Vatican did not report the meeting, and its spokesperson didn’t respond to questions.
The Rev. Antonio Spadaro noted that Kirill faces a “great challenge” in weighing the growing list of Orthodox priests and metropolitans as well as ordinary Ukrainian faithful who beg him to speak out against Putin. Spadaro, in an essay published by Adnkronos, said that Francis was not included among them. However, he did quote the pope as saying that Christians are making war.
This moderate tone was repeated this week by the Holy See’s Ambassador to the United Nations, who stressed the need to establish humanitarian corridors in Ukraine for refugees to be able to enter and receive humanitarian aid. According to the Vatican summary, he didn’t mention Russia as the reason for them.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher of the Holy See, who is also the foreign minister, met Wednesday with Luigi Di Maio, his Italian counterpart. According to the Italian foreign ministry, Di Maio “repeated Italy’s firm condemnation to Russia’s aggression to the detriment Ukraine and the commitment that continue on the path to effective and incisive Sanctions against the Russian Federation,” while supporting Ukraine in “humanitarian and economic” areas.
After the meeting, the Vatican, which sends medical supplies to Ukraine said nothing.
This silence was not shared by the head Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who has been vocal in his daily denials of the Russian invasion. It has not been shared by Polish bishops who now help to mobilize the acceptance of the tens of thousand of Ukrainian refugees who have crossed over the border.
In a letter to Kirill, the Polish Bishop Gadecki wrote that “I ask for you, Brother,” to urge Vladimir Putin to end the war crimes against the Ukrainian people. “I ask you to humblely call for the withdrawal from Ukraine of all Russian troops.”
He said, “I also request you to appeal Russian soldiers not to participate in this unjust war and to refuse to execute orders that, as we’ve seen, lead to many war crime.” Refusing to obey orders in such a circumstance is a moral obligation.