Ukraine should “raise a white flag”: Pope causes shitstorm with statement

“Our flag is yellow and blue”

In his evening video address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demonstratively thanked Ukrainian clerics who are on the front lines. «They protect life and humanity. That is where the church is – with the people,” says Selenski. His Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (45) writes online: “Our flag is yellow and blue. It is the flag for which we live, die and win. We will never raise any other flags.”

The main archbishop of the Orthodox Catholic Church in Kiev also reports. “Ukraine is hurt, but not defeated. She is exhausted, but on her feet. No one here can surrender,” says Sviatoslav Shevchuk (53) and invites the Pope to come to Ukraine to support one million Catholics and five million Orthodox Catholics. They are all Ukrainians.

Reactions also from Poland and Latvia

“Shall we compensate for this by asking Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Then there would be peace immediately, without the need for negotiations,” writes Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski (60). Evil must be fought and defeated so that evil raises the white flag and surrenders.

Harsh words are coming from Germany. “I feel ashamed as a Catholic,” Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (66), board member of the FDP faction, told the German media. Annalena Baerbock (43) is speechless about the pope’s attitude. “I don’t understand it,” says the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Caren Miosga’s ARD talk show. “Where is the Pope?” Anja Siegesmund (47), president of the Evangelical Church Congress 2025, told RND: “The desire for peace should not lead to the right of the so-called stronger winning.”

Surrender would not lead to peace

For critics of the papal statements, a white flag does not mean peace – not only in Ukraine, but also elsewhere in the world. Analysts warn that a Russian victory could encourage other dictatorships to wage aggressive wars. The EU would be divided into countries that subordinate themselves to Russia and countries that arm themselves en masse. Vladimir Putin (71) has indicated several times what his next war targets would be, namely Moldova, Georgia and the Baltic countries of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Surrender would certainly not be in the interests of the Ukrainian people. The Kremlin said they wanted to politically “re-educate” and “deworm” Ukrainians. There have been thousands of rapes, torture, murders and mass expulsions in the occupied territories in the past. This violence would continue to threaten the defeated.

The pope did not want to say anything about that, says the secretary general of the Swiss bishops’ conference in an interview with Blick. «As I judge the Pope, in his answer he meant all the warring parties. His message is: Violence cannot solve problems. Everyone involved must negotiate. With the Pope, the people are always central,” says Davide Pesenti (41).