VATICAN (CNS): The chairperson of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark A. Milley, a Catholic, travelled to the Vatican on August 21 for a private meeting with Pope Francis. He told reports that they discussed the war in Ukraine, especially the war’s impact on the people there.
On his plane later, Milley told reporters travelling with him that the pope is “obviously very concerned about the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed and wounded and the innocent civilian lives that have been lost.”
Agence France-Presse reported him as saying, “He’s very interested in hearing my views on the state of the war and the status of the war, and the human tragedy that’s unfolded in Ukraine.”
Milley also said he and the pope discussed other issues, including talking “a lot about Africa,” AFP reported.
Pope Francis’ “depth of knowledge of world events is quite impressive,” the general said, adding that it was “a real privilege” to meet and speak with the him.
Milley arrived in the library of the Apostolic Palace with a bag of rosaries, which the pope blessed.
After their private conversation, they were joined by Milley’s wife, Hollyanne, and by Joe Donnelly, US ambassador to the Holy See.
Pope Francis gave the general a bronze sculpture inscribed with the words, “Peace is a fragile flower.” Milley has been a strong advocate for US military assistance to Ukraine.
At a news conference on July 18, after a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of 54 nations, Milley told reporters, “We stand firm in our ironclad commitment to provide practical support to Ukraine as it continues to defend its independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.”
He described Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine as “not only an illegal war of aggression, it’s also an unnecessary war against a country that presented no military threat to Russia, an unnecessary, unjust, illegal war of aggression.”
Pope Francis, who constantly calls for prayers for peace in Ukraine and an end to the war, has also questioned the wisdom of continuing to send arms into the region, although recognises Ukraine’s right to defend itself from an aggressor.
“The din of weapons drowns out attempts at dialogue,” he said on August 15, the feast of the Assumption of Mary as he entrusted prayers for peace to her.
