In the first days of his pontificate, the newly elected Pope Leo XIV publicly criticized the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine. He described Moscow’s actions as a deliberate and purposeful attempt to grab someone else’s territory, which, he said, is an imperialist act. This is reported by the weekly Weekly Expression.
In his first interview, Leo XIV noted that the war has a clearly expressed conquering nature, and its main driving force is Russia’s desire for domination.
“This is nothing but a real invasion based on the imperialist desire to control territories for the sake of power”, – emphasized the pontiff.
With such a position, the new head of the Catholic Church clearly distanced himself from the rhetoric of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who often avoided direct statements about the aggressor, for which he was criticized, in particular in Ukraine. Francis repeatedly emphasized the spiritual unity of the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, but did not directly point to the Kremlin’s responsibility for the unleashed war.
We will remind, on May 8, Robert Prevost from the United States was elected to the papal throne. He became the first American in history to head the Vatican, choosing the name Leo XIV.
