October 02, 2015:
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COMMENT: The Vatican’s relationship with Russia at this time in history has perhaps gone unnoticed. |
Putin's trip to Rome underscores Russia's special relationship with Italy
Stephanie Kirchgaessner, The Guardian
Jun. 10, 2015, 9:56 AM
Vladimir Putin might not have been welcome at the G7 meeting of world leaders in Germany this week, but when he touches down in Milan on Wednesday, the Russian president is likely to receive a far warmer welcome than he would in any of the other large EU countries.
Putin is travelling to Italy to visit the Russian pavilion at the expo in Milan on Russia day (the Russian Federation’s national holiday) and will then head to Rome.
His itinerary includes meetings with Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, Sergio Mattarella, the Italian president , and Pope Francis, whom Putin will meet at the apostolic palace in Vatican City in late afternoon. It will be their first meeting since 2013, when Francis and the Russian leader met in St Petersburg at a G20 meeting hosted by Russia.
The presidential visit underscores Russia’s cosy relationship with Italy at a time when Putin is otherwise being treated as a pariah on the world stage. Barack Obama, the US president, warned at the G7 summit this week that world leaders were prepared to tighten sanctions against Russia if the conflict in Ukraine escalated.
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The Pontiff and the Pariah
What Putin and Pope Francis Discussed in the Vatican
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Pope Francis in the Vatican. In the West, the image of the Pontiff sitting down with the Pariah might be jarring, but it is well in line with Francis’ teachings and ambitions.
It was Putin who requested the meeting in late May, and Francis was quick to agree. At the time, some papal advisors warned that Putin’s mission was cynical: to improve his image at a time when Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was predicting a “full scale invasion ” by Russian forces, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg was speaking out against “resurgent Russia,” and the European Union was gearing up to extend sanctions. In the end, Francis decided to buck expectations (and dismayed Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who criticized the Pope for refusing to condemn Moscow as an aggressor) and sit down with the man in charge of Russia.
A second factor in Francis’ decision-making (to meet with Putin) is skepticism of U.S. foreign policy. A major rift between the Vatican and Washington dates back to the invasion of Iraq when Pope John Paul II argued vociferously against sending U.S. troops to oust Saddam Hussein. He even sent a personal envoy, Cardinal Pio Laghi, to bring his case to President George W. Bush on March 5, 2003. But the visit was for naught.
A third factor is Syria. Francis and Putin, working with and through their respective churches, already coordinated to thwart U.S. intervention in Syria. In 2013, Washington accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of killing more than 1,400 people in a chemical weapons attack and warned of military intervention. The Vatican urged the West to intensify diplomacy without resorting to armed aggression.
Putin likewise maintained an aggressive public campaign against potential U.S. bombing and, days later, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced a plan to transfer Syria’s chemical weapons to international control—thus diverting the U.S. from military retaliation.
Click on Link:
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2015-06-16/pontiff-and-pariah
Historic meeting of pope and Russian Orthodox head seen nearer
An historic meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church is "getting closer every day," a senior Orthodox prelate said in an interview published on Sunday.
The unprecedented meeting would be a significant step towards healing the 1,000-year-old rift between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, which split in the Great Schism of 1054.
"Now such a meeting is getting closer every day but it must be well prepared," Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church's foreign relations department, said in an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.
He said the meeting between the head of the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church and the head of Russian Orthodox Church - which counts some 165 million of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians - would take place in a "neutral" country, not in Moscow or the Vatican. Austria or Hungary were possibilities, he said.
Click on Link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/28/us-pope-orthodox-idUSKCN0P80KU20150628
Putin’s New Ally: Pope Francis
Jun 12, 2015
During his visit to Italy two days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pope Francis at the Vatican. It has to be noted that, while the Pope is obviously not fooled about what’s happening in the world – undoubtedly, his Argentine roots play a role in his clear vision – Italy as a state also is trying to find a way to quietly mend relations with Russia outside of the EU. It’s interesting that Putin’s visit took place directly after the G7 bash in Germany, during which Merkel and Obama sang a lot of anti-Russian songs in-between of sips of banana-flavored beer (not kidding) and vowed more anti-Russian sanctions.
It is also happening against the backdrop of the US trying to sneak its mid-range nuclear missiles into the EU, targeting Russia, and many other ugly things that signal the fresh push for World War IV (WWIV because, in all truth, we should really consider the Cold War as WWIII). But more about that in another piece.
Pope Francis is another thing all together. Catholic church and the Vatican continue to hold a very substantial sway over worldly affairs, even if this soft power is invisible to most.
Francis’ interest in meeting with President Putin isn’t so much economics, although this issue concerns anyone who lives in Italy; while the Vatican is a separate state, it is, after all, geographically a part of Rome. Additionally, much of the Pope’s flock resides in Italy and surely, his people are well-aware of those farmers and shippers who are going bankrupt because of sanctions; they know of losses Italian energy and industrial companies are suffering.
Still the Pope’s main interest at this point is geopolitics and the diplomacy of peace. And that’s where it gets interesting.
During Putin and Pope’s behind-the-closed-doors visit, which lasted 50 minutes – longer than prescribed – Pope Francis gave Putin the “Angel of Peace” medal. This medal is said to have the ability to create peace and protection, as well as the solidarity among peoples. The choice of words is very interesting: a symbol – ‘talisman,’ ‘wish’ – of protection and peace is being given to Putin by the head of the Catholic church. ‘Solidarity’ is the word feared terribly in the US, but used broadly in socialist and left-leaning societies, including South America and Pope’s native Argentina. Pope Francis has also mentioned that the Bible addresses not just spiritual matters, but also geopolitics as one of the important aspects of human co-habitation. The above language of symbols and hints, typical for the Vatican, thus reflects an important message.
The US pressured (and by pressure I mean blackmailed, coerced and attacked in the media) Francis to take a tough line on Putin and condemn Russia. Meanwhile, the head of the so-called Greek-Catholic church of Ukraine archbishop Shevchuk criticised the Pope for meeting with Putin and urged him to shorten or cancel the meeting.
Click on Link:
https://futuristrendcast.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/putins-new-ally-pope-francis/
