The Vatican and Russian Roulette

Two testimonies were read at the tenth station of the Via Crucis procession at the Colosseum on this year’s Good Friday. One of them was of a Ukrainian youth who described his family’s flight from Mariupol to Italy, where he had felt “stripped of everything, completely naked” — a reference to the stripping of Jesus, which corresponds to this station. The other one told about a Russian teenager who “felt a sense of guilt, but at the same time couldn’t understand why.” His older brother had died in the war, and then the same fate supposedly befell his father and grandfather.

A Ukrainian boy with the cross accompanied by other children. It is not clear whether the Russian boy whose story was recited was also present at the procession.

This is the second year in a row when the Vatican tries to put Ukrainians and Russians side by side during this crucial Holy Week ceremony. Praying for peace is undoubtedly a righteous thing to do, as is pitying a youth who has lost his loved ones.

However, one should not forget two important facts. First, the Vatican is not only a religious body, but also a political one. Everything the independent city-state says and does can be viewed as a political message.

What message can the Holy See send to the Russians? For most of them the highest religious authority is Patriarch of Moscow, and the Pope is a nobody at best, but more likely a heretic and an agent of the hostile West. And anyway, they probably won’t even ever learn about this event in the first place.

For over 10% of Ukrainians the Pope is the highest religious authority, even if most of them are not Roman Catholics, but Catholics of the Greek (Byzantine) Rite. And the rest, being predominantly pro-Western, will at least pay attention to what a Western leader has to say. And if they don’t like what they hear, that’s politically bad for both the Vatican (less new converts) and the West (generating distrust and feeling of betrayal).

Second, the Way of the Cross is not just a walk around Rome’s Colosseum. It’s a ritual — religious, mystical, magical, whatever — where everything and everyone has a symbolic meaning. Thus, the two boys are not just two boys. They symbolize their respective countries, which are currently at war. And one of those countries has brutally attacked its neighbor and keeps committing sin after sin with no confession or repentance in sight.

The Russian boy represents this impenitent sinner. At the same time, having chosen someone who has suffered a personal tragedy as a symbol of the aggressor country, the Vatican implicitly presents the aggressor as a victim.

Were the boy’s brother, father and grandfather just innocent victims of circumstance? Did they really have no choice? Are only Putin and the military command to blame? Had they been bound hand and foot and taken to the front line where they were killed unarmed? I have always thought it takes will to move, stand, or hold anything including weapons.

The Russian borders still remain open for men, unless they have already received a conscription notice. It may be difficult to get a European visa, but countries like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, or Mongolia are much more welcoming.

Or, if one can’t afford emigration or has already received the notice, one can hide inside Russia. Russia is huge, with a lot of opportunities to disappear. Big Brother is watching, but is not as powerful as in Orwell’s novel.

Let’s also remember that the Russians are the world’s champions in corruption. They can cheat at anything. In that country one can buy and counterfeit virtually anything, including identity documents and health certificates. One can bribe border guards and conscription officers.

Last but not least, one can just refuse to follow orders by saying so or by failing to move, stand, and hold weapons. One risks being imprisoned or institutionalized, but for a rational person who values their life this should still be better than face being killed or disabled for life at the front line.

Imagine if the majority of Russian men chose one of the options described above. This could drastically change the situation, couldn’t it? And yet, millions of them prefer to play the national sport, Russian roulette. They assess the risk as being low, while the bounty is lucrative: a hefty sum they won’t otherwise earn so easily, and a washing machine or a toilet bowl to boot. However, if you play long enough, there’s a good chance your children will go and pray with the Pope — or with a Russian priest if they’re less lucky.