<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small">I wouldn't publicize what Nadeau (dubbed The Daily Beast) says too much. Everything else I've read about Francis and the war shows him as trying his best to remain neutral and non-political, caring instead for all of God's children. That is so much more of his peace-loving character. Why try to make him into a political critic, except maybe to promote an agenda. My belief is that she is trying to sell papers. Have a good day everyone, Catherine</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, 8 May 2022 at 11:53, Arthur Blomme via Sundaycommunity <<a href="mailto:sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca">sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<p>Hi all.<br>
</p>
<p>Here is an article from the<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pope-francis-says-nato-started-war-in-ukraine-by-barking-at-putins-door" target="_blank">
The Daily Beast</a> reporting Francis speaking out against
the manufactured consent in the west for war against
Russia. I was pleased to learn that Francis shares similar
views to myself on this war. Unsympathetic author accuses
Francis of Conspiracy Theories. In today's fog of war if
you do not support the dominant narrative put forward by the
powers and principalities you are designated a conspiracy
theorist. <br>
</p>
<p>Art<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<h1>Pope Francis
Says NATO Started War in Ukraine by ‘Barking at Putin’s
Door’</h1>
<p><i>The pontiff defended Putin and claimed—without
foundation—that it was “others who created the conflict”
in Ukraine.</i></p>
<p><img src="https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_1969,w_3500,x_0,y_0/dpr_1.5/c_limit,w_1044/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1651585870/2013-11-25T120000Z_440262432_GM1E9BQ08KE01_RTRMADP_3_POPE_ayltvh" alt="" width="350" height="197" align="left">ROME—Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pope-francis-finally-admits-some-catholic-priests-are-deplorable" target="_blank">Pope
Francis </a>has floated the idea that he wants to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/volodymyr-zelensky-believes-president-biden-will-visit-ukraine-soon" target="_blank">take
a trip to Kyiv</a> to try to broker a ceasefire. But now
he says he would prefer to go to Moscow to try to talk some
sense into <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-shadowy-russian-scheme-that-dumped-nazis-into-ukraine-before-vladimir-putins-war" target="_blank">Vladimir
Putin</a>, who he has not outwardly condemned in the now
nearly three-month-old war and only did so lightly in a
lengthy interview with an Italian newspaper.</p>
<p>“I feel that before going to Kyiv, I must go to Moscow,” he
told <em>Corriere Della Sera</em> in an interview that ran
Tuesday. But the meeting would not exactly be to condemn
Putin, based on what he told the paper. He said that the
real “scandal” of Putin’s war is “NATO barking at Russia’s
door,” which he said caused the Kremlin to “react badly and
unleash the conflict.”</p>
<p>Never mind that the 85-year-old pontiff is unable to walk
after tearing a ligament in his knee (for which he says he
will soon have surgery), or that Putin won’t even answer his
calls. Francis repeated comments he has made in general
audiences and in other interviews that the war is nothing
more than a giant opportunity for a “trade in arms” and that
it is still ongoing because of the constant shuttling of
weapons to Ukraine. He has spoken twice by phone to
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but mostly to urge
him not to fight back. He also went to the Russian embassy
to the Holy See days after the invasion began to “register
his concerns” about what was happening.</p>
<p>“I don’t know how to answer—I’m too far away—the question
of whether it is right to supply the Ukrainians,” he told
the paper. “The clear thing is that weapons are being tested
there. The Russians now know that tanks are of little use
and are thinking of other things. This is why wars are
waged: to test the weapons we have produced. Few people are
fighting this trade, but more should be done.”</p>
<div> </div>
<p>Whether the Italian journalists didn’t ask—or whether he
didn’t answer— there was no mention about what would happen
if Ukrainians were not fiercely fighting back, whether it
would mean a full annexation of the entire country, millions
of deaths, or empowering an already insatiably power-hungry
Putin.</p>
<p>Francis veered toward conspiracy theory as he blamed the
international community for instigating the war. “You cannot
think that a free state can make war on another free state,”
he said. “In Ukraine, it seems that it was others who
created the conflict. I am pessimistic but we must do
everything possible to stop the war.” The pope then said
that in a state visit to Rome by Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban, he was told “the Russians have a plan, that
everything will end on May 9” without giving any further
explanation. May 9 is the day Russia celebrates its
liberation and the end of World War II.</p>
<p>The one person Francis will not meet is Patriarch Kirill,
the head of the Russian Orthodox church, who the pope fears
is becoming “Putin’s altar boy.” Francis said he spoke with
him on the phone for 40 minutes on March 15. “And I told
him: I completely fail to understand this,” he said.
“Brother, we are not state clerics; we cannot use the
language of politics, but that of Jesus. We are pastors of
the same holy people of God.”</p>
<p>He said that 40 days ago he asked his secretary of state to
start the process of organizing a visit to Moscow instead of
Ukraine, but that Putin had not responded. “I am not going
to Kyiv for now,” he said. “I feel that I must not go. First
I must go to Moscow. First I must meet Putin. But I am also
a priest, what can I do? I do what I can. If Putin would
only open the door.”</p>
<p>News of the potential trip to Moscow put the Vatican press
corps who travel with the pontiff on high alert, with many
wondering if they would be arrested if they reported on
discussions of the war if they were in Russia.</p>
<p>But even the pontiff concedes that a meeting in Moscow is a
long shot. “I fear that Putin cannot, and does not, want to
have this meeting at this time,” he said. “But how can you
not stop so much brutality?”</p>
<div> </div>
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<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/barbie-latza-nadeau" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_fill,h_200,w_200,x_0,y_0/v1615990809/Barbie-Nadeau-author_tykfxp.jpg"></a><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/barbie-latza-nadeau" target="_blank">
<h4>Barbie
Latza Nadeau</h4>
</a>
</div>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:13pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Cambria,serif;color:black">May you walk in joy as love calls us on.<span></span></span></i></p></div></div></div></div></div>