The Vatican is unlikely to act as a mediator in trying to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, Pope Leo XIV said in excerpts from an interview with
Crux published Sunday.
"I'd make a distinction in terms of the voice of the Holy See in advocating for peace and a role as mediator, which I think is very different and is not as realistic as the first one," Leo told Crux, a Catholic news outlet.
He added, "I think that people have heard the different appeals I've made in terms of raising my voice, the voice of Christians, and the people of goodwill, saying that peace is the only answer. The useless killing after these years of people on both sides — in that particular conflict, but in other conflicts — I think people have to somehow be wakened up to say, there's another way to do this."
The Pope emphasized that "the Holy See, since the war began, has made great efforts to maintain a position that, as difficult as it might be, [is not] one side or the other, but truly neutral. Some things I've said have been interpreted in one way or the other, and that's all right, but I think that the realistic part of it is not primary right now. I think a number of different actors have to push hard enough to make the parties that are at war say, enough is enough, and let's look for another way to solve our differences."
He reiterated that "I believe strongly that we cannot give up hope, ever. I have high hopes in human nature. There is the negative side; there are bad actors, there are the temptations. On any side of any position, you can find motivations that are good and motivations that are not so good. And yet, to continue to encourage people to look at the higher values, the real values, that makes a difference."
The Pope said one of the significant reasons the world is so polarized is "the continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive."
He pointed out "CEOs that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times more than what the workers are receiving, the last figure I saw, it's 600 times more than what average workers are receiving. Yesterday the news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world. What does that mean and what's that about? If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we're in big trouble."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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