Many Italian media emphasize Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s arrogant refusal of the Pope’s offer to mediate in the war. “You cannot have a mediation with Putin, no country in the world can do it,” he said in a TV meeting with Italian journalists. “It was an honor for me to meet His Holiness, but he knows my position, the war is in Ukraine and the plan must be a Ukrainian one. We are very interested in involving the Vatican in our peace formula.”
Of course, the Ukrainian “peace formula” is no negotiation platform, but a list of conditions which are unacceptable for Russia.
After the cold official Vatican reaction to the meeting, the Pope sent a clear message in the “Regina Coeli” prayer on St. Peter’s square today. “Security and stability will never be achieved with weapons, to the contrary: you will continue to destroy even any hope for peace.”
Some observers also insist that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State who leads the Vatican peace mission, deemed it not necessary to cancel his scheduled visit to Portugal in order to be present at the meeting with Zelenskyy, as if he knew that it would be useless.
