Pope Francis Seemingly Sides With Putin, Lambasts NATO For 'Provoking' Russia-Ukraine War

Pope Francis made comments about the Russia-Ukraine war with Jesuit priests on Tuesday saying that Russia may have been "provoked" by the West in attacking Ukraine, the latest in a long list of statements that appear to be taking Putin’s side in the matter.

Published on Tuesday in the journal Civilta Cattolica and publicized even further by the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Francis’ statements appear to condemn Russia for its “brutality and ferocity” whilst claiming that the country’s underlying reason for entering the war may be deeper than first thought, according to CNN.

“But the danger is that we only see this, which is monstrous, and we do not see the whole drama that is unfolding behind this war, which was perhaps in some way either provoked or not prevented. And I register an interest in testing and selling weapons. It is very sad, but basically this is what is at stake,” he said.

Francis claimed that he was not on President Putin’s side, but warned against “simply against reducing complexity to the distinction between good guys and bad guys without reasoning about roots and interests, which are very complex,” the Daily Beast reported.

He claimed to have spoken to a head of state which he did not identify who he claimed was afraid that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization might inadvertently start a war with Russia because of its policies.

“I asked him why, and he replied: ‘They are barking at the gates of Russia. And they do not understand that the Russians are imperial and do not allow any foreign power to approach them,’” Francis said.

In spite of Francis’ statements, he has been generally supportive of the Ukrainian people’s welfare, communicating with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he is currently praying for his country, and also recently lambasting Russia for the deaths caused by his war.

“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,” the Pope said in a separate remark released the same day.