Vita gazette – “We are in a world war. It started in bits and pieces; no one can say it’s not global because the great powers are all entangled. And the battlefield is Ukraine. They all fight there. There are imperial interests there,” says the Pope in an interview.

“Wars hurt. There is no spirit of God. Therefore, I do not believe in holy wars.” Pope Francis mentions the war in Ukraine and “the conflict in Yemen, Syria, the poor Rohingya of Myanmar” in an interview with Radio television Svizzera, Corriere, Repubblica and Stampa on the occasion of the ten years of his pontificate.

The weapons

And the issue of arms, a topic Pope Francis often returns to: “A technician said to me: if weapons were not produced for a year, the problem of hunger in the world would be solved. It’s a market. War is waged, old weapons are sold, new ones are tested”.

Putin is an educated man.

To Paolo Rodari’s question on what he would say to Putin if he met him, as has happened several times, the Pope replies: “I would speak to him clearly as I speak in public. He is a cultured man. On the second day of the war, I went to the Russian embassy to the Holy See to say that I was willing to go to Moscow because Putin would leave me a window to negotiate.

There are imperial interests there.

 Lavrov wrote to me saying thank you, but it’s not the time. Putin knows I’m available. But there are imperial interests there, not only of the Russian empire but of empires elsewhere. It is proper to the empire to put the nations in second place”.

The pontiff replies on wars in Ukraine and the forgotten conflicts in Yemen, Syria, and the poor Rohingyas of Myanmar. “We are in a world war: It started in bits and pieces, and now no one can say it’s not global because the great powers are all entangled. And the battlefield is Ukraine. They all fight there.

The interview will be broadcast on Sunday, 12 March, the eve of the tenth anniversary of the pontificate.