Zelenskyy Refused Pope Mediation

May 14, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—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, Pope Francis conveyed a clear message after his “Regina Caeli” prayer at St. Peter’s Square today, saying, “security and stability are never obtained through the use of arms, but rather, every hope of peace will continue to be destroyed.”

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.