West News Wire: Pope Francis has lashed out at nations for “playing games” with Ukraine by initially supplying arms while considering breaking their promises.
“It occurs to me that there may be interests, beyond the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and, you know, the sale of armaments. Pope Francis made the comment while flying back from a trip to the French coastal city of Marseilles.
He was responding to a query from a reporter asking if he was disappointed that his attempts to bring about peace had not been successful. He has despatched an ambassador, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Italy, to speak with leaders in Kiev, Moscow, Washington, and Beijing.
The Pope told the reporter he felt “some frustration” and then began talking randomly about the commerce of weapons, military industry and the war.
We shouldn’t engage in games. We must assist them in finding a solution. I can see that certain nations are reversing course and refusing to provide weaponry to (Ukraine),” he said.
Matteo Bruni, a spokesman for the Vatican, explained that by making the remarks, Pope Francis was not endorsing or opposing the sending of arms to Ukraine.
The pope, in a paradox, was suggesting that those who traffic in weapons never pay the repercussions of their decisions but instead leave them to be paid by people, like the Ukrainians, according to Bruni.
In the meantime, the US government recently confirmed that the Biden administration has sent more than $100 billion worth of weapons, munitions and other military aid to the former Soviet republic to be used in the Russia-Ukraine war.
