Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters
In his latest tone-deaf comment on Vladimir Putin’s ruthless invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis referred to Darya Dugina, a Russian propagandist and daughter of top ally to Vladimir Putin, as an innocent victim of war.
The pontiff made the comment to thousands of people gathered at his weekly Wednesday audience in Rome. “I think of that poor girl blown up by a bomb under her car seat in Moscow,” he said, referring to the targeted attack carried out over the weekend. “The innocent pay for war. The innocent! Let us think about this reality and say to each other: War is madness.”
Madness it may be, but many would argue that Dugina, whose father is referred to as “Putin’s brain” is not exactly innocent. As a journalist, she had pushed the “de-nazification” of Ukraine as a basis for the six-month old invasion. At a memorial service, she was lauded as a “warrior for the sovereignty of Russia.”