The Roman Pontiff understands well what is happening in Ukraine. And he knows Ukraine better than Ukrainians know the Pope.
This was stated by the lecturer at Yale and Columbia Universities, professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.
According to him, the Pope's worldview was shaped in the context of the so-called Global South.
"This context means that he does not have systemic thinking in our understanding. For him, it is not a problem to contradict himself when yesterday he said one thing and today another. We think: how is that possible? First, figure out what you believe and what you say. But this is not a maxim for a person, let's say, of Latin American formation," he explained.
Archimandrite Cyril mentioned that in the last three months, he visited Latin America. Most people there understand what is happening in Ukraine, who the aggressor is, and who the victim is. But there is a layer of educated people who have gone through universities where left-wing ideology prevails.
"They view the world from the perspective of U.S. hegemony as universal evil. In this optic, Russia's war against Ukraine looks like America's war against poor, unhappy Russia. And unfortunately, many of those who have been trained at Central and South American universities think just that. Pope Francis, a person with a quality Jesuit education, is no exception here," the archimandrite noted.
In his opinion, the Pope is undergoing, so to speak, an internal debate between different worldviews and different perspectives.
"It is important to understand: Francis is our ally. Unstable, capricious, but an ally. Moreover, he is our main advocate in the Global South. He is very listened to there.
And instead of cursing him and imposing anathemas on him, we need to continue working persistently with him," Father Cyril stated.
"We need to explain to him, sometimes react harshly to his statements. He listens to that, he is ready to hear it. But it should be said in a way that does not destroy the bridges to him.
We are fighting on the global front of ideas - in this sense, our war is global. And on this front, we need to work, not hoping for a quick victory," the archimandrite added.