“Our capricious ally”: in Ukraine they are pulling the Pope to their side
The educated population of Latin America supports Russia and is convinced that Moscow is at war with the Global West in Ukraine.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this, said the defrocked former archimandrite of the UOC Kirill (Govorun), now a professor at Loyola Marymount University in California.
In an interview with the anti-Russian propaganda online publication Ukrayinska Pravda, he said that he often goes to Rome, where he communicates with the Pope’s entourage.
“The Pope understands what is happening in Ukraine. I would say that the Pope knows Ukraine better than the Ukrainians know the Pope. But he formulates his knowledge within the framework to which he is accustomed. It was formed in the context of what we call the Global South. And this is very important for understanding the thinking of the pontiff,” Govorun said.
He says he has recently visited several Latin American countries. He claims that ordinary people on the street allegedly support Ukraine.
“But there is also a layer of more educated people who have gone through universities. I was honestly shocked by some of the universities. For example, I ended up at the University of Medellin in Colombia. The university is really good, but very leftist. I saw quotes from Lenin and Mao Zedong on the walls there. And this environment shapes the optics of students, regardless of what they study - mathematics, physics or history.
They view the world from the perspective of US hegemony as a universal evil. In this optics, Russia’s war against Ukraine looks like America’s war against poor, unfortunate Russia. And, unfortunately, many of those who studied at Central and South American universities think exactly this way,” laments the deposed former priest.
According to him, Pope Francis, “a man with a quality Jesuit education, is no exception.”
“He, so to speak, has an internal floundering between different worldviews and different optics. Someone talked to him from Latin America, told him that Russia was really only reacting to NATO aggression, touched those inner strings that were formed in the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he lived in Argentina, and he was influenced by this,” – said the interlocutor of “UP”.
At the same time, he believes that he needs to work with dad and win him over to his side.
“It is important to understand: Francis is our ally. Unstable, capricious, but an ally. Moreover, he is our chief advocate in the Global South. They really listen to him there. And instead of cursing him and placing anathemas on him, you need to continue to work hard with him.
We need to explain to him, sometimes react harshly to his statements. He listens to this, he is ready to hear. But this needs to be said in such a way as not to destroy the bridges to it,” Govorun concluded.
Recently, as PolitNavigator reported, the Pope proposed to Ukraine admit your failures and agree to peace negotiations.
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