“Pope Francis compares Russia’s war against Ukraine to a devastating Stalin-era famine”–The New York Times
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The comparison to Stalin’s decision to let millions in Ukraine starve represents one of the pope’s strongest condemnations yet of the Russian invasion.
Pope Francis on Wednesday compared the war in Ukraine to the “terrible Holodomor genocide” of the 1930s, when the policies of the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, caused a devastating famine in Ukraine.
The pontiff’s comparison of Moscow’s attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine to Stalin’s decision to let millions in Ukraine starve represents one of his strongest condemnations yet of the Russian invasion.
“Let us pray for peace in the world, and for an end to all conflicts, with a special thought for the terrible suffering of the dear and martyred people of Ukraine,” Pope Francis said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s square. “And let us think of war-torn Ukraine.”
The pontiff then asked that people join Ukraine this Saturday in commemorating “the terrible Holodomor genocide, the extermination by hunger of 1932-33 artificially caused by Stalin.”
“Let us pray for the victims of this genocide and let us pray for all Ukrainians, the children, the women and the elderly, the babies who are today suffering the martyrdom of aggression,” he said.
The State of the War
- Dnipro River: A volunteer Ukrainian special forces team has been conducting secret raids under the cover of darkness traveling across the strategic waterway, which has become the dividing line of the southern front.
- Evacuation Plans: The Ukrainian government is preparing to help evacuate residents from the southern cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv, where shattered infrastructure has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis when winter sets in.
- A Race to Rebuild: Ukrainian attempts to stabilize some of the country’s battered electricity supply and make a dent in the seemingly endless task of demining swaths of the country offered a glimpse into the Herculean effort that lies ahead off the battlefield.
- Visual Investigation: Videos circulating on social media have ignited a debate over whether Ukrainian forces committed war crimes or acted in self-defense as they tried to capture a group of Russian soldiers who were then killed. Here’s what we know.
Ukrainian historians argue that Stalin, as head of the Soviet Union, used a famine brought on by the Soviets’ forced collectivization of farms to crush Ukrainian aspirations for independence. The famine began in Kazakhstan and southern Russia but was most devastating in Ukraine, where entire villages were left to starve.
The pope, in previous comments, has called Ukrainian victims of the war martyrs, but the comparison with the Holodomor appeared to be his strongest yet.
In the early months of the conflict, Francis upheld the Vatican’s longstanding policy of not taking sides, even as he deplored the violence, with the goal of facilitating a peace agreement.
Yet he has recently stepped up and sharpened his rhetoric. He has urged the faithful to pray for “martyred” Ukraine, and has begged President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to stop the “spiral of violence and death.”
The pope has also often warned against the reckless risk of using nuclear weapons and uncontrollable global consequences that would cause, a clear reference to Mr. Putin’s statements suggesting the use of nuclear weapons was a possibility.
For months after the Feb. 24 invasion, the pope appeared to walk a fine line. He studiously avoided naming Mr. Putin, or even Russia itself, as the aggressor, even as he called for the violence to stop and raised his voice against “unacceptable armed aggression” and the “barbarism of killing children.”
His neutrality, however, drew criticism from Ukraine, especially when he said that Daria Dugina, a 29-year-old Russian ultranationalist close to Mr. Putin who had supported the invasion, was assassinated in August. Francis called her an “innocent” victim.
“The madness of war,” Francis said at the time. “The innocent pay for war — the innocent! Let us think about this reality and say to each other, ‘War is madness.’”
Ukraine’s foreign minister summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to Ukraine to express “profound disappointment.”
After that, Francis changed tack. On Aug. 30, the Vatican for the first time said that Russia was the aggressor in war, condemning Moscow’s invasion in strong terms.
“As for the large-scale war in Ukraine, initiated by the Russian Federation, the interventions of the Holy Father Pope Francis are clear and unequivocal in condemning it as morally unjust, unacceptable, barbaric, senseless, repugnant and sacrilegious,” the Vatican said in the statement.
During the early month of the conflict, the pope had also avoided criticism of the war’s chief religious backer and apologist, Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church. His position changed in May, when he warned Kirill not to “transform himself into Putin’s altar boy,” and urged him to instead work for peace.
Gaia Pianigiani is a reporter based in Italy for The New York Times.
Russia-Ukraine War
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Ukraine’s allies want to curb the flow of oil revenue helping finance Russia’s invasion.
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Russia unleashes a missile barrage, and killing at least 10.
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Zelensky takes his case to the U.N., as the U.S. accuses Russia of trying to freeze Ukraine ‘into submission.’
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In a Kyiv suburb, antiaircraft guns fire into the sky, then a Russian missile slams into a residential building.
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A Russian missile strikes a maternity ward, killing a newborn, Ukraine says.
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The U.S. bolsters Ukrainian air defenses and long-range artillery.
Better Understand the Russia-Ukraine War
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History: Here’s what to know about Russia and Ukraine’s relationship and the causes behind the conflict.
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On the Ground: Russian and Ukrainian forces are using a bevy of weapons as a deadly war of attrition grinds on in eastern Ukraine.
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Outside Pressures: Governments, sports organizations and businesses are taking steps to punish Russia. Here are five ways in which sanctions are affecting Russia.
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How We Verify Our Reporting
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Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs, videos and radio transmissions to independently confirm troop movements and other details.
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