Pope Says NATO May Have Caused Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

According to Pope Francis, NATO's "barking" at Russia's door may have prompted Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and he has volunteered to meet with Putin in Moscow.

Francis pondered on Russia's murderous aggression toward its neighbour in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, saying that while he wouldn't go so far as to suggest NATO's presence in adjacent nations "provoked" Moscow, it "possibly assisted" the attack.

The pope also decried the war's "brutality," comparing it to Rwanda's civil war in the 1990s, which resulted in the Tutsi minority's genocide.

The Holy See has been requesting a meeting between Francis and Putin in Moscow since mid-March, according to the pope. "Of course, we wanted the Kremlin's chief to set aside some time. We haven't gotten an answer yet, and we're still trying, even though I'm afraid Putin won't be able or willing to meet at this time."

"First I have to go to Moscow, first I have to meet Putin," Francis said in the interview, ruling out a trip to Kyiv for the time being.

Francis claimed he postponed a meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a prominent supporter of Putin who has defended the war, because they both thought it would be "ambiguous," but advised Kirill not to "transform himself into Putin's altar boy" in a phone call.

Francis has consistently condemned the invasion of Ukraine, while avoiding publicly naming Putin, in keeping with the Vatican's foreign policy of keeping the door open for possible talks.

Phone calls and an emailed request for comment were not immediately returned by the Russian embassy in the Holy See. A Vatican spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.