Pope says countries should not "play games" with Ukraine on arms aid
Pope Francis suggested on Saturday that some countries were "playing games" with Ukraine by first providing weapons and then considering backing out of their commitments, Reuters reports.
Francis made his comments aboard the plane returning from a trip to the French port city of Marseilles. He was responding to a reporter's question about whether he was frustrated that his efforts to bring about peace had not succeeded. He has sent an envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, to Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and Beijing to meet with leaders there.
He said he did feel "some frustration" and then began talking randomly about the arms industry and the war.
"It seems to me that the interests in this war are not just those related to the Ukrainian-Russian problem but to the sale of weapons, the commerce of weapons," he said.
"We should not play games with the martyrdom of this people. We have to help them resolve things ... I see now that some countries are moving backwards, not wanting to give (Ukraine) arms. A process is starting in which the martyr certainly will be the Ukrainian people and that is an ugly thing," he said.
Francis has condemned the international arms trade in general but said last year that it is morally legitimate for nations to supply weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against Russian aggression.
