Pope Francis today compared the war in Ukraine to a Nazi operation in which, in the first part of World War II, around two million people, mostly Jews, were killed.
Addressing this week’s general audience of Polish pilgrims, Francis noted that the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland recently marked the anniversary of Operation Reinhard.
It was a code name for a secret operation in the part of occupied Poland, which included the territory that is now in the territory of Ukraine.
“Let the memory of this terrible event awaken in all the intentions and actions to achieve peace”, said the Holy Father, specifically mentioning the “extermination” operation.
“This is how history repeats itself. Today we see what is happening in Ukraine. Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation” whose goal is to “denazify” the country and eliminate nationalists it considers dangerous. “Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of waging an unprovoked war to take territory from its pro-Western neighbor,” the Pope added.
Since the start of the invasion in February, Francis has strongly condemned the Russian moves. Last month, he said Ukrainians were suffering “martyrdom due to aggression”, and compared the war’s effects on Ukrainians to the “terrible genocide” of the 1930s, when famine reigned in the country under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. .
The Pope has repeatedly offered Vatican mediation to resolve the conflict, but because of his harsh criticism of Russia, this is highly unlikely.
In an interview last month with the Jesuit magazine America, Francis spoke about what he said were atrocities by Russian military forces in Ukraine.