The Vatican clarified comments by Pope Francis that referred to Ukraine raising a “white flag”, a term widely understood to mean surrender.
The pope’s words in an interview drew fierce criticism from Ukraine’s foreign minister.
“I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates,” Francis said.
The Vatican press office said Francis meant for the white flag to represent “the courage to negotiate”, not surrender, and was responding to imagery proposed by the interviewer about ceasing hostilities through brave negotiations.
A Latvian president offered a contrasting view that one must not capitulate to evil but defeat it.
“Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags,” Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
“The strongest is the one who, in the battle between good and evil, stands on the side of good rather than attempting to put them on the same footing and call it ‘negotiations,’” he said.
“My Sunday morning take: One must not capitulate in face of evil, one must fight it and defeat it, so that the evil raises the white flag and capitulates,” Latvian president Edgars Rinkēvičs wrote.
While “white flag” typically denotes surrender or weakness, the Vatican said Francis elsewhere stated “negotiations are never a surrender” and his intention was to indicate halting conflict through courageous diplomatic discussions.
The pope “uses the term white flag, and responds by picking up the image proposed by the interviewer, to indicate a cessation of hostilities, a truce reached with the courage of negotiation,” Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni said.
“Elsewhere in the interview, speaking of another situation of conflict, but referring to every situation of war, the Pope clearly stated: ‘Negotiations are never a surrender,’” Bruni added.
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