April 2, 2022

Published by Reuters UK By Philip Pullella VALLETTA (Reuters) -Pope Francis said on Saturday he was considering a trip to Kyiv and implicitly criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine, saying a “potentate” was fomenting conflict for nationalist interests. Francis made the comments, first to reporters on the plane taking him to Malta for a two-day visit, and then in a hard-hitting speech in the island’s presidential palace that left little doubt who he was referring to. “From the east of Europe, from the land of the sunrise, the dark shadows of war have now spread. We

Published by Reuters By Philip Pullella VALLETTA (Reuters) -Pope Francis came the closest he has yet to implicitly criticising President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying on Saturday a “potentate” was fomenting conflicts for nationalist interests. Moscow says the action it launched on Feb. 24 is a “special military operation” designed not to occupy territory but to demilitarise and “denazify” its neighbour. Francis has already rejected that terminology, calling it a war. “From the east of Europe, from the land of the sunrise, the dark shadows of war have now spread. We had thought that invas…