Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said that the first condition for peace is a cease fire on the part of the aggressor, that is, Moscow.
This is how the Secretary commented on the Pope's words with a call to Ukraine to "have the courage of the white flag", Corriere writes.
Parolin was asked why the Pope addressed only one side - Ukraine.
He recalled the statement of Francis I from February 25, recalling that there the Pontiff spoke in favor of "creating the conditions for a diplomatic solution that would ensure a just and lasting peace."
"In this sense, it is clear that the creation of such conditions does not depend on only one side, but on both, and the first condition, in my opinion, is the cessation of aggression," Pietro Parolin said.
He emphasized that the Pope spoke about "the courage to negotiate", and this does not mean a call for surrender.
"The Holy See follows this line and continues to call for a truce. And the aggressors must be the ones to cease fire and open the possibility for negotiations. The Holy Father explains that the readiness to negotiate is not a weakness, but a strength, it is not about to surrender, but about courage. And he tells us that we should value human lives more, the hundreds of thousands of human lives that have become victims of this war in the heart of Europe," Cardinal Parolin said.
He added that this appeal is relevant both in relation to the war in Ukraine and in relation to the Middle East and other wars in the world.
We will remind you that after the Pope's interview, the Vatican stated that he did not mean the surrender of Ukraine. The press service emphasized that the Pope's words about the "white flag" were taken from a phrase suggested by the interviewer.
Meanwhile, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, commenting on the Pope's statement, believes that he should appeal to putin to encourage him to withdraw troops from Ukraine.
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