Pope Francis spoke about what he would like to say to Russian President Vladimir Putin if they were to meet again. During an interview with the Italian media RSI, the journalist Paolo Ridari recalled that the Pope had meetings with Putin before the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, and asked him what he would say to the president in a possible meeting.
The Holy Father assured that “he would speak to him with the same clarity with which I speak in public.”
After affirming that the president of Russia “is an educated man”, he recalled that “on the second day of the war I went to the Russian embassy in the Holy See to say that I was ready to go to Moscow as long as Putin gave me a window to negotiate.
In addition, he mentioned that Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, wrote to him thanking him for his visit. However, I have explained that this is not the time to coordinate a meeting.
“Putin knows that I am available,” the Pope said, “but there are imperial interests there, not only from the Russian empire, but from empires elsewhere.”
“Precisely from the empire is to put the nations in second place,” he said.
The Holy Father lamented the wars that affect other regions of the world, such as the conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Myanmar.
“Why this suffering?” lamented the Pontiff. “Wars hurt, there is no spirit of God there. I do not believe in holy wars, ”he concluded.
During the interview, the Holy Father also spoke about the ten years of his pontificate, the things he missed from when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the funeral of Benedict XVI and his possible resignation, among other topics.
RSI announced that they will post the full video of the interview on Sunday, 12 March at 8:40 pm local time.