Pope Francis has made ambiguous statements regarding Russia's war against Ukraine on more than one occasion. Overall, the Vatican is forced to make certain gestures towards Russia in order to have at least some channels of communication.
Anatoly Babynsky, a doctor of theology and a professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University, said this in an interview with Channel 24. He noted that the Vatican played a significant role in the release of several groups of prisoners of war.
Babynsky pointed out that relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church are currently the worst they have been in 70 years.
"But the relationship between Pope Francis and Metropolitan Hilarion is probably better than inter-church relations in general. Therefore, on the one hand, they have fairly good informal communication. On the other hand, it should be understood that even within this peacekeeping mission that is being discussed, the Vatican is forced to make certain gestures, reverences towards Russia, in order to keep this contact warm and have at least some channels of communication," explained the theologian.
The Vatican is known to have played a significant role in the release of several groups of prisoners of war. Currently, the issue is about the return of Ukrainian children, and Pope Francis has expressed his willingness to participate in this. Therefore, according to Anatoly Babynsky, the Vatican will sometimes make gestures that we will not like. But the question is whether we will benefit more from it if we manage to return children to Ukraine.
The theologian pointed out that the Catholic Church is not homogeneous. For example, Latin American and African countries may sympathize with Russian narratives, as European or North American Catholicism is unequivocally on the side of Ukraine.
"Pope Francis has his background, and he can't easily get rid of it. Probably some anti-Americanism," Babynsky noted. Sometimes, according to him, this creates a not entirely good understanding in the entire Catholic Church of what is happening in the world.
Anatoly Babynsky believes that for the Russian leadership, the word of the Pope is almost worthless. That is, they use him only for the purposes of propaganda. In general, the Catholic Church has little influence on the situation in Ukraine, but it can make a significant contribution to humanitarian issues."