The war in Ukraine is approaching its 18-month anniversary, and Russia and Ukraine seem no closer to a resolution. It’s unclear what would force both countries to the negotiating table — but, if Ukraine has any say, it likely won’t be the Vatican.
Over the weekend, an interview with Mykhailo Podolyak, senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, made international headlines after the official “called Pope Francis a ‘Russophile,’” according to America magazine, and alleged that the Vatican is receiving Russian money in return for its influence. (READ MORE: A Lesson From the War in Ukraine: Don’t Rely on ‘the Kindness of Strangers’)
“We need to look at the investments that Russia makes in the Vatican bank, and why the position of the country called the Vatican is so strange,” Podolyak said during his Ukrainian Channel 24 interview on Sept. 8.
The Institute for Religious Works (IOR), more commonly known as the Vatican Bank, denied the allegations the following day. It noted that the bank’s policy requires that it “not accept, as clients, institutions or natural persons which do not have a close relationship with the Holy See and the Catholic Church.”
Given the international sanctions currently leveled against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, IOR stated that any transaction with Russia would constitute an illegal act.
“The IOR is a supervised financial intermediary, operating through international correspondent banks of the highest level and impeccable reputation required to comply with international standards,” the statement read.
After experiencing a series of money-laundering scandals, IOR was subject to a series of intensive international inspections and has now been granted “a clean bill of health,” the Pillar reports.
The Pope’s Ill-Advised Praise of Russian Culture
Podolyak’s accusations came just weeks after Pope Francis issued a statement to Catholic Russian youth who were unable to attend World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, in August due to the war with Ukraine.
In that statement, the pope praised “the great history and legacy of Russia, including Russian historical figures like Catherine the Great and Peter the Great, which was interpreted by some as a papal sanctioning of Russian imperialist aims,” according to America.
Pope Francis responded to critics while returning from Mongolia at the beginning of September, saying, “I was not thinking of imperialism when I said that.” He added, “Maybe it wasn’t the best way of putting it, but in speaking of the great Russia, I was thinking not so much geographically but culturally.” (READ MORE: Pope Watch: Buckle Up for the End Times)
Podolyak’s comments directly addressed the pope’s statement to Russian youth. “It doesn’t make sense to speak of a mediator known as the pope if he takes a pro-Russian position that is obvious to everyone,” he said. “If a person clearly promotes Russia’s right to kill citizens of another country on another sovereign territory, that is promoting war.”
Podolyak is certainly not the first prominent Ukrainian to criticize the pope’s comments. Earlier this month, 45 Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops met with Pope Francis while attending a synod in Rome. According to the Catholic News Agency, they informed him that “some of his gestures and statements have been ‘painful and difficult for the Ukrainian people.’”
The bishops, CNA reports, later released a statement warning the pontiff that “misunderstandings between the Vatican and Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war are used as propaganda by Russia, and so ‘the faithful of our Church are sensitive to every word of Your Holiness as the universal voice of truth and justice.’”
Vatican Attempts to Broker Peace Deal
The Vatican has repeatedly urged the two countries to come to some sort of peace agreement, although it hasn’t clarified what that agreement might look like. At the end of April, the pontiff remarked that Rome was engaged in a “secret” peace mission, saying, “Everyone is interested in the road to peace.” Unhelpfully, both Russia and Ukraine denied any knowledge of such a deal.
That denial may not have been entirely honest. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal claims that he invited the pope to visit Ukraine in May, and Fox News reports that “the pope has previously said he wishes to visit Ukraine and Russia to help establish peace.”
“So far, only Hungary and the Vatican have come out as countries calling for an immediate cease-fire regardless of national borders,” EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief Andreas Thonhauser noted during a segment on EWTN News Nightly. “Pope Francis has tried to make it clear to both sides that he is primarily interested in peace, but not all political players like that message, at least so it seems.”
The problem is that Ukraine doesn’t want a “neutral” peace that disregards borders. It’s concerned with — at the very least — regaining the territory Russia has claimed. The pope’s frequent prayers for the country are appreciated, but Ukraine would really like to see a wholehearted condemnation of the Russian invasion and of Vladimir Putin — and that’s something the pope has steadfastly resisted doing.
America magazine has remarked that “while Zelenskyy has publicly thanked the Vatican for its peace efforts, especially in helping displaced children to reunite with their families and other charity work, he has also made it clear Ukraine is not interested in the pope’s mediation offer and will seek peace ‘on its own terms.’”
In Podolyak’s words: “The Vatican cannot have any mediating role, because that would delude Ukraine and justice.”
In a recent column for The American Spectator, our own R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., predicted that, at some point, “both sides in this horrible war will tell [the pope] that they have had enough.” That point has, at least partially, already arrived — Podolyak’s remarks effectively relegate the Vatican to a mere humanitarian role in the conflict, at least as far as Ukraine is concerned. The question becomes: Will Russia do the same?