The unexpected meeting of the Pope and an American General
One story stood out from all of the bad news flooding media channels this week – two unlikely leaders meeting to discuss pathways to peace. Top U.S. military officer General Mark Milley met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday, discussing issues including the war in Ukraine.
The pope is “obviously very concerned about the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed and wounded and the innocent civilian lives that have been lost,” Milley told journalists aboard a U.S. military aircraft following the audience according to Australia’s The Daily Telegraph.
“He’s very interested in hearing my views on the state of the war and the status of the war, and the human tragedy that’s unfolded in Ukraine,” the general said.
Milley, who is the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a 65-year-old Catholic, has sharply criticized Moscow as mounting “a campaign of terror” against civilians in Ukraine, including by targeting civilian infrastructure as part of its war strategy.
A strong advocate for Ukraine’s defence against Russian forces, Milley, has championed sending billions of dollars in arms to Kyiv.
The general said the pope was deeply concerned about the loss of life in Ukraine, particularly of civilians, since Russia invaded in February 2022, adds Reuters.
Francis has condemned the international arms trade in general but said last year that it is morally legitimate for nations to supply weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against Russian aggression.
The four-star Army general, who retires later this year, made headlines in November by cautioning against the likelihood of an outright Ukrainian military victory in the near term while highlighting the possibility of a political solution to end the fighting.
Francis has asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to be open to dialogue with Russia but Zelenskiy wants the Vatican to back Kyiv’s peace plan, which calls for restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities, and the restoration of Ukraine’s state borders.
The 86-year-old pope, meanwhile, has sent his own peace envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, to Kyiv, Moscow and Washington, primarily to discuss humanitarian aid and the repatriation of Ukrainian children.
The pope would do more good if he stayed on his own lane. He and the leaders of all faiths must use their platforms to condemn Russia’s murderous aggression. In particular, Francis should be pressuring the hypocritical, self-serving heads of the Russian Orthodox organization to speak out for peace as Jesus would.