(Article by Wyatt Reed republished from SputnikNews.com)
Prominent anti-Russian media personalities exploded on Monday, comparing Pope Francis to a “dog” and accusing him of "parroting Putin's talking points" after the Holy Father suggested, in a newly-published interview in Vatican News, that the West “provoked” the special military operation being waged by Russia in Ukraine.
“We have to get away from the common mindset of ‘Little Red Riding Hood:’ Little Red Riding Hood was good and the wolf was the bad guy,” Francis reportedly implored. “Here there are no metaphysical good guys and bad guys.”
Francis inspired further Western consternation by explaining that he had previously “met with a head of state”–whose identity he did not disclose but who he described as a “wise man”–who informed the Pope that he was “very concerned about the way NATO was acting” prior to the initiation of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. When the pontiff asked him why, the unnamed head of state reportedly replied that Western powers were "barking at the gates of Russia.”
The pontiff went on to allege what he called “brutality” on the part of the Russian forces, although he did not elaborate on any specific actions. “But the danger,” he said, “is that we only see this… and miss the whole drama that is unfolding behind this war, which was perhaps somehow either provoked or not-prevented.” Francis also noted with apparent alarm the “interest in testing and selling weapons” which has surged in recent months.
Pope Francis Warns Against Using Grain as Weapon in Ukraine Conflict
The Holy Father’s analysis acknowledging NATO's role in inciting Russia puts him starkly at odds with most powerful Western governments and media outlets. NATO, the US Department of Defense, and the European Union frequently describe the ongoing situation in Ukraine as an “unprovoked war” in which Russia is the indisputable aggressor. This diagnosis is largely shared by widely-cited US-based sources like the New York Times, which classifies the conflict as “President Vladimir V. Putin's unprovoked war.”
While a number of notorious Russophobes made their feelings known, Louise Mensch–a Catholic former British Parliament member who earlier penned an op-ed on Russiagate –offered a scathing assessment of the man who Catholics regard as being "infallible in matters of faith and morals."<
“Stick to matters of faith and morals, the latter of which you need to acquire,” Mensch went on to demand of Francis, who, according to doctrine, is viewed by Catholics as having "full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church."
Mensch, perhaps thinking better of lashing out at the Pope, clarified hours later that she was “not disputing the Holy Father in any matter of faith and morals.”
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