Aurelio Porfiri
You may believe it or not, but until a few days ago in Italy the topic of the day was covid-19, and this for the last two years. But suddenly Vladimir Putin, as someone said ironically, cured us from covid-19 and made the war between Russia and Ukraine the topic of every day. In every corner of the world newspapers, magazines, blogs, websites, everyone is discussing this topic and of course there are also good reasons for that. I did a live streaming in Italian about the war and I have to say I can feel the division among people, how the war has divided people that do not participate directly in it. A war is a war, not something to consider lightly, of course. We need just to consider the suffering that it brings to all those involved.
I feel that the war is not the answer, but the question. What do I mean by that? I mean that the war is like a big question mark that has to be answered, regarding the conditions that have led to this armed conflict. It is certainly an easy way to see this or that leader as crazy or out of his mind, but it is most difficult to see what could have motivated those kinds of actions. This does not mean to justify the war, or to think that it is a “just war”. It means only to make evaluations not based on emotions, that is always dangerous, but based on reason.
Moreover, for people who have interest on the spiritual side of their lives, as we should have, there is the question of the attitude of the Orthodox Church in relation to this event of the war. It seems, from what we have heard until now, that the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill is kind of siding with the reasons for the war. Observers may ask themselves what this will mean for the relationship between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church. We know that Pope Francis has repeatedly called for the end of the war and has even visited the Russian ambassador to the Holy See to convey his concerns. We heard a few days ago that a new meeting was in the works between the Pope and the Patriarch, but are there now the right conditions for such a meeting?
We can see how many questions, not only one, are raised from a war. To look for a way out, would be better that they are not unanswered.
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