Pope calls for peace in the face of war in Ukraine

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis rejected the concept of “a simple war” and highlighted the need for peace on Wednesday in a video call with the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, in the first communication known between both Christian leaders since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The conversation was more extraordinary because Francis and Cyril I of Moscow have met only once — at Havana airport in 2016 — at what was then the first meeting between a pope and a Russian patriarch in more than 1,000 years.

In a statement, the Vatican indicated that both agreed that the Church “should not use the language of politics, but the language of Jesus” and stressed the importance of negotiations for a ceasefire.

“It is the people who pay the price of war, it is the Russian soldiers and the people who are bombed and killed,” Francis said, according to the Vatican.

Wednesday's call came just hours after Francis evoked the specter of “a final catastrophe” of an atomic war that would extinguish humanity. Although Francis did not explicitly refer to Ukraine in that part of his speech during his weekly hearing, he did so at the time of calling to pray for Ukraine and for God to protect his children and forgive those who launch wars.

Francis' long-term goal of improving relations with Cyril I and avoiding clashes with the Russian Orthodox Church had explained his initially timid response to the Russian invasion. However, since then the pontiff has demanded “an end to this massacre” and has described the invasion as “an unacceptable armed aggression”.

But it has not condemned Russia by name for the bloody invasion or publicly called on the patriarch to use his influence with Russian President Vladimir Putin to demand an end to the war, as other Catholic and Orthodox leaders have done. The Vatican has a tradition of silent diplomacy, behind the scenes, and tends not to denounce aggressors.