BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
TO MAKE a strong gesture of protest, for the first time in living memory, a Pope went to the embassy of another country to express deep concern and protest, no doubt, about the invasion of another country.
Pope Francis did. He walked into the Russian embassy in Rome to express what hundreds of millions of people around the world feel and believe that the invasion of Ukraine is immoral, evil, wrong and repugnant. A return to war in Europe is shocking and unbelievable for many. It will be a war without end as its effects will last for a generation.
So, it is evil, destructive and vicious and causes the horrifying reality of death and wounded and all who approve, support, enable and applaud such evil action may also be participating in immoral acts of violent crimes against humanity and being companions of evil. When we remain totally silent in the face of evil, wrong-doing and human rights violations, we can be part of the crime by our refusal to stand against it.
Who can approve war but only those who will benefit from it. The suppliers of weapons, ammunition and war material are the ones to gain. The instigator of the war, Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, hopes to gain prestige, power, praise and expand his control and take Ukraine back into his and Russia’s control and influence. That is how it is with Vladimir Putin who has tasted the bitter loss of national prestige when Russia collapsed in 1991 and the Soviet Union fell apart. Many countries once under its once powerful sway declared independence as did Ukraine. That was bitter medicine for the old Soviets and they are choking on it until now.
The driving force of Putin, now twenty years in power, is his desire to exert power, restore the twisted pride and image of a once mighty Soviet Union of which he was once a part of and before which the world once trembled but then no more. That is until he put his nuclear force on alert. He wants the world’s attention. He needs to be respected and feared. He hates the fact that so many former Soviet-controlled countries are now members of the EU and NATO and Russia is a second-rate power.
He wants to restore Russia as a leading great power and be respected. He wants his legacy in history to be that he brought Ukraine back into its fold and control with blood and lives and perhaps other nations too. The quick victory and capitulation of Ukraine has eluded him as the Ukrainian people and army have put up a great resistance and halted his advance. He will eventually overwhelm them as the Western powers cannot intervene lest they start a world war. Ukraine is not a member of NATO and they will not start a war with Russia. The prospect of Ukraine joining the EU is what Putin fears. It will be lost to Russia forever so he wants to capture Ukraine before it does join NATO. (To be continued)/PN
