Олег Чупа / uk.wikipedia
CV NEWS FEED // The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has issued a fiery response to Pope Francis’ latest remarks which called for Ukraine to have the “courage of the white flag.”
In an address delivered to Permanent Synod members in New York this past weekend, Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk declared:
There is one thing I have to say to you on behalf of the people of Ukraine: Ukraine is wounded but unbroken! […] Ukraine is exhausted, but it stands and will stand! Trust me, it never occurs to anyone to surrender, even in the places where hostilities are taking place today.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav’s comments come in wake of recent comments made by Pope Francis during an interview with the Swiss broadcaster RSI.
The stronger side of the war in Ukraine, said the Holy Father, “is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people, and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates.”
The Pope also emphasized that he believed “negotiation is never a surrender.”
“One thing we know for sure is that if Ukraine is even partially conquered, God forbid, the frontier of death will expand,” Sviatoslav continued, arguing against skeptics of Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against this prospect: “Come to Ukraine and see! If any of you do not believe in the victory of Ukraine, perhaps it’s time to go to confession! It means that we have little trust in the living God present in the body of the Ukrainian people.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, His Beatitude recently arrived in the US, along with several members of the Permanent Synod, for the first time since the start of the war. The Head of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine met with several US government leaders and participated in the regular Session of the Permanent Synod of Ukrainian bishops.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba also responded to the Pope’s comments in a post on X, stating: “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.”
“At the same time,” Kuleba continued, referencing the Vatican’s diplomatic policies during World War II, “when it comes to the white flag, we know this Vatican’s strategy from the first half of the twentieth century.”
“I urge [the Vatican] to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine and its people in their just struggle for their lives,” he added.
Director of the Holy See Press Office Matteo Bruni told journalists on Saturday evening that the Pope’s “white flag” comments published earlier that day were “intended to call for a ceasefire and to relaunch the courage of negotiation.”
“The Pope’s hope,” said Bruni, “is and remains that which he has always repeated in these years, and reiterated recently on the occasion of the second anniversary of the conflict,” that “the martyred Ukrainian people” are able to find “a just and lasting peace” with Russia.
