Pope Francis responded: “It is an interpretation. But I believe that he who sees the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage to hold the white flag and negotiate is stronger. And today we can negotiate with the help of international powers. They are there. That word negotiate is a brave word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, have the courage to negotiate. And you are ashamed, but if you continue like this, how many deaths (will there be) then? And it will end even worse. “Negotiate on time, look for a country to act as a mediator. Today, for example, with the war in Ukraine, there are many who want to act as mediators. Turkey, for example… Don’t be ashamed of negotiating before things get worse.”
These words of Pope Francis were responded to by the Ukrainian government, which stated that during World War II there was no talk of “peace negotiations with Hitler.”
Last Sunday the director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, he claimed: “The Pope uses the term white flag, and responds by taking up the image proposed by the interviewer, to indicate with it the cessation of hostilities, the truce reached with the courage of negotiation. In another part of the interview, speaking of another conflict situation, but referring to any war situation, the Pope clearly states: ‘Negotiation is never a surrender.’”