Pope Francis: Russia Violates Ukraine’s ‘Principle of Self-Determination’

ROME — Pope Francis has condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine as a “violation of the principle of the self-determination of peoples.”

In his message for the World Day of the Poor, released this week, the pontiff laments the fact that “millions of people” were reduced to poverty from the coronavirus pandemic, but instead of emerging from that “tempest,” the world has now been flung into “a new catastrophe” because of the war on Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has joined the regional wars “that for years have taken a heavy toll of death and destruction,” the pope writes. “Yet here the situation is even more complex due to the direct intervention of a ‘superpower’ aimed at imposing its own will in violation of the principle of the self-determination of peoples.”

“Tragic scenarios are being reenacted and once more reciprocal extortionate demands made by a few potentates are stifling the voice of a humanity that cries out for peace,” he states.

Pope Francis employed his strongest rhetoric to date to condemn the ongoing Russian attack on Ukraine, calling for an end to the assault and the establishment of humanitarian corridors for those fleeing. https://t.co/d4LLWpTpAf

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The pope goes on to underscore the great human and economic cost of war, which leaves thousands, if not millions, destitute.

“What great poverty is produced by the senselessness of war!” he writes. “Wherever we look, we can see how violence strikes those who are defenseless and vulnerable.”

We think of “the deportation of thousands of persons, above all young boys and girls, in order to sever their roots and impose on them another identity,” he adds.

“Millions of women, children and elderly people are being forced to brave the danger of bombs just to find safety by seeking refuge as displaced persons in neighboring countries,” he observes. “How many others remain in the war zones, living each day with fear and the lack of food, water, medical care and above all human affections?”

“In these situations, reason is darkened and those who feel its effects are the countless ordinary people who end up being added to the already great numbers of those in need,” he writes.

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