Italians Mobilize in Support of Pope’s Call for a Negotiated Settlement In Ukraine

Dec. 19, 2022 (EIRNS)—Pope Francis’s Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square yesterday brought out gatherings of both Italy’s political “right” and the “left” supporting the Pope’s call for a negotiated settlement of the Ukraine war. As reported in BreakingLatest.com on Dec. 18, one of the groups was led by Gianni Alemanno, “former mayor of Rome, former minister, and historical exponent of the

Italian right,” who is also the spokesman for the “Stopping the War” committee. Alemanno said: “We came to St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’s Angelus with a banner with the inscription ‘Christmas truce in Ukraine.’ We did it to thank the Holy Father who is the only authoritative voice that has been raised in the world to stop the war in Ukraine.... The proposal for a European peace conference, the Helsinki model, put forward by Cardinal Parolin is the only realistic initiative to reach a ceasefire, stop the escalation of the conflict and open a negotiating table.... With a collection of signatures today throughout Italy we ask the government to launch the idea of a Christmas truce: There is still a week to hope.”

The same article reported on “left” forces saying something similar. This includes Luciano Vasapollo, founder of the “anthropological economics school” at the Faculty of Arts of La Sapienza University, which in November organized a conference “against war and for a multipolar world, in a new and future humanity of peace and solidarity.” A co-organizer of that event was Vatican expert and professor at the same university, Salvatore Izzo. The event was attended by Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio of the Vatican, former president of the Dicastery of Legislative Texts, and also Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference.

Zuppi is quoted telling students: “Non-violence should not be confused with non-resistance. Non-violence is like saying: no to violence. It is an active rejection of evil, not a passive acceptance. Laziness, indifference, neutrality have nothing to do with it. The non-violent, in its refusal to defend itself, is always brave. Non-violence is an act of trust in man and faith in God; it is a testimony given to the truth up to the conversion of the enemy.”