Francis. “Angel of Peace.” And Putin

The visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Italy is perceived as an important act that allows maintaining links with the outside world. The purpose of his visit is the attendance to the EXPO-2015 World Exhibition, which takes place in Milan. Separately, Putin visited the Vatican and met with Pope Francis. According to his custom, Russian president was late to the meeting. Pope had been waiting for him for over an hour. And then there was a story that caused some scandal and confusion, as it got distorted by many Ukrainian media. Journalist Oleksandr Prylypko writes about it on his Facebook page:

“First, the observers noted that Putin was given a cold welcome at the Holy See. Second, Putin was not awarded, he merely exchanged gifts with the Pope. Putin presented the embroidery of Cathedral of Christ the Savior in gold with a comprehensive commentary. In response, Pope handed out a Vatican medallion with Evangelii Gaudium, Apostolic divination. And this is call for peace, tantamount to an ultimatum,” writes Prylypko. He also notes that in both cases it was “a triumph of the Vatican diplomacy.”

But still, it seems that the Holy See does not fully understand that it was Putin who made Russia annex Crimea and led it to the war with Ukraine in Donbas. Some social media users likened Putin’s visit to the Vatican with Hitler’s meeting with Pope Pius XI, who is considered an accomplice of Nazism...

On the eve of the talks between Putin and Francis, Sviatoslav (Shevchuk), head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, wrote a letter to the Vatican, asking the Pope “to be the voice of the Ukrainian people, its children, and all faithful Catholics in Ukraine suffering from Putin’s aggression.” Francis did so, and called on the president of Russia to make “significant and sincere efforts to achieve peace” in Ukraine.

Characteristically, prior to Putin, the same medal was received by Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority in May. Israeli media immediately exploded with criticism and accused the Vatican of not understanding what is happening in the Middle East.

Myroslav MARYNOVYCH, human rights activist and dissident, pro-rector of Ukrainian Catholic University:

“Without a doubt, it seems that Vatican diplomacy has not assessed the situation in Ukraine well enough, and sometimes fails to distinguish on whom should they put an emphasis of the responsibility for the conflict in Ukraine.

“However, there is something we, too, fail not consider. And in this situation it was well evident. The power of the Vatican as a state is much less than the such as the spiritual capital. As a shepherd of souls, His Holiness has many more opportunities and levels of freedom. He has the functions that a usual politician has not. Listening to the comments on the Russian president’s visit to the Vatican and meeting with the Pope, it may seem that they are about a meeting of political leaders. But in fact, it is a meeting between a political leader and the shepherd of souls. The conversation among them may have a different context and meaning.

“There have already been cases when Pope has used his status as the spiritual leader to say what the other politicians couldn’t for whatever reason. I do not know for sure whether this time the Pope took advantage of this opportunity. But I guess some signs and innuendos could have been sent in that conversation, by both parties. And these signs might foretell further political decisions.

“The significance of the ‘Angel of Peace’ medallion is not about issuing a blank check to Putin and equaling him to the ‘angel of peace.’ This may well be the opposite – the Pope could have given it to Putin in order to make him act accordingly and start establishing peace. Let us hold our comments and try to assess this visit a little later. I remember Gorbachev’s visit to John Paul II. In a sense, it was a fateful one. Thus, Putin’s meeting with Francis has the same potential and might also become fateful. Will this really be so?”