Pope Francis: I am open to meeting Putin and Zelensky

After his visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, the Pope made assessments to the journalists who followed his trip on his return from the capital, Juba, to Rome.

Recalling that the first year of the war in Ukraine will end a few weeks later, the Pope affirmed that he was open to meeting with Zelenskiy and Putin, saying: “If I did not go to kyiv, it was because it was not possible. go to Moscow at that time, but was in dialogue. In fact, on the second day of the war, I went to the Russian embassy and said that I wanted to go to Moscow and meet Putin. Then (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey) Minister Lavrov said: ‘Let’s see that later.’ said.” He used the statements of him.

Pointing out that the only war in the world is not the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Pope said: “Syria has been at war for 12 or 13 years, Yemen for more than 10 years, think of the poor Rohingya who are traveling. the world because they were banished from their homeland. How many wars are there anywhere, including in Latin America. The whole world is at war and is self-destructing. We must stop this in time. We need a calm mind.” he said.

“WE MUST BE SAVED FROM THE IDEA THAT AFRICA HAS TO BE EXPLOITED”

Stating that violence is a daily theme, Pope said: “We have also seen this in South Sudan. It is painful to see how violence is incited. The sale of arms is one of these elements. The sale of weapons, in my opinion, is the biggest plague in the world. Someone in the business told me that without selling weapons for a year, world hunger would end. I don’t know if that’s true, but gun sales are at their peak today.” He made the comment from him.

The Pope said that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has so many natural resources, “excuse the word, but having too many natural resources attracts people to exploit the Congo, there is the idea that ‘Africa must be exploited.’ But we must free ourselves from the notion that Africa exists to be exploited.” he performed the assessment of it.

Asked by journalists, the Pope replied: “It is unfair to criminalize people with homosexual tendencies.” saying.

The spiritual leader of Catholics stated that on September 23 he will travel to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and Marseille, France, within the framework of this year’s “World Youth Day”, and that they are working on a first trip since Marseille to Mongolia.

The Pope also noted that he plans to visit India in 2024. (BRITISH AUTOMOBILE CLUB)