by Stefano Caprio

The truce for the Great Victory is a game of roles, with Putin wanting to prolong negotiations and appear victorious. The fourth parade since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, on the solemn 80th anniversary of the end of the conflict against Nazi Germany. The ‘Russian mindset’ among the cardinals at the Conclave. The Orthodox Patriarch shows the ‘Russian paradise’ against the devastation of war.

By a strange coincidence of human events, both dramatic and glorious, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a ‘three-day truce’ from midnight on 7 May to midnight on 9 May, during the celebrations for the Great Victory in Moscow's Red Square, and precisely during the Conclave to elect the successor to Pope Francis and the 267th successor of St Peter.

The first and third Rome unite for the glory of the pontiff and the emperor, assuring the new pope, at least in words, a vision of peace, so coveted and desired by his Argentine predecessor. Unless there are unexpected complications, by the end of the truce Rome and the entire Church will see the new apostle of universal peace appear on the balcony of the basilica, dressed in white and (perhaps) with the red cloak in memory of the blood of Christ and the martyrs.

Putin's ‘pacifist’ choice is certainly not dedicated to the papal election, having been declared before the announcement of the start of the Conclave, and in any case, the respect due to the head of the Catholics does not diminish the Tsar of Moscow's feeling that he is the true head of the universal Church.

While US President Donald Trump jokingly claimed to be the most suitable candidate for the role of pontiff, the Russian president draws on the sacred profession of the ‘symphony’ of throne and altar dating back to Byzantine origins and exalted by Russia since the Middle Ages as the joint leadership of the emperor and the patriarch, one to protect the Church from danger, and the other to proclaim the truths of the faith.

In Russian history, since the first Tsar Ivan the Terrible and through the exploits of Peter the Great, Catherine II, Alexander I and the ‘Red Tsar’ Joseph Stalin, it is in fact the emperor who is the true leader of the Church. And Russia is seen as the sole guardian of the true faith for the whole world, as is repeated today in the proclamation of ‘traditional Russian moral and spiritual values’, which even Catholics are now unable to adhere to.

Putin's truce is, of course, part of the game, with Russia trying in every way to prolong the negotiations and wanting to appear as the ‘victor’ from the stage above Lenin's mausoleum during Moscow's Victory Day parade against all the evils of the world. The Ukrainians consider the Russian proposal to be ‘manipulation’, calling instead for a ceasefire of at least 30 days, or as Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga said, ‘if Russia really wants peace, it must immediately stop attacking Ukrainian cities’.

The Kremlin has obviously avoided responding to these appeals, because ‘a month-long truce is impossible without taking all the details into account,’ as spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The ‘details’ concern Russian claims to all occupied territories, and so we remain at square one.

It will be the fourth Victory Day parade since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, on the solemn 80th anniversary of the end of the war against Nazi Germany, which Russia claims as the exclusive achievement of the Soviets. Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has already exceeded the number of Russian deaths and injuries since 1945 in all world conflicts, seeking to repeat the experience of the Battle of Stalingrad and the Siege of Leningrad, the ‘heroic sacrifices’ that make Russia the victorious martyr country, as if true triumph can only be reflected in self-destruction.

A truce had already been declared over Easter, although it was not really respected, but as some soldiers on the front line say, ‘there was no real calm, but at least everything seemed a little quieter’. Civilians in Ukraine are hoping for a truce of any length, ‘one, three or thirty days, as long as the roof doesn't collapse on our heads!’, according to surveys by Currentime.

According to political scientist Ivan Preobrazhensky, ‘Putin just wants to celebrate the parade without any disturbances, and also send a signal to Trump to prevent the United States from pulling out of the negotiations altogether, as Russia so far seems to be only benefiting from the American intervention.’

The unilateral declaration of the truce, moreover, shows that Russia can end the conflict at any time, as it is primarily responsible for it, and Trump continues to ‘run into Putin's trap’ in the hope of achieving some results that Russia is hinting at, without really acting accordingly. The American president himself had to admit that ‘Putin is leading me by the nose,’ taking his American buddy up the ladder placed in front of him, agreeing on every step for some minor concession, without ever reaching the top.

International expert Dmitry Levus believes that Putin's truce is merely ‘a propaganda initiative ahead of the pobedobesie, the “obsession with victory”, and not real progress in the peace negotiations’, and that it is necessary to ‘show everyone the true face of Putin and today's Russia’, without giving in to his manipulations. Russia cannot, of course, be absent from the debates of the cardinals‘ congregations ahead of the Conclave, as they seek the right approach to give the new pope the opportunity to intervene effectively, recalling Pope Francis’ efforts to defend Ukraine, while at the same time not completely breaking relations with Moscow.

In this delicate task, the greatest knowledge obviously lies with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the most likely and natural candidate to continue Bergoglio's Ostpolitik, even if he does not emerge from the Conclave in white robes. Another favourite is the Archbishop of Bologna, Matteo Maria Zuppi, mediator in humanitarian negotiations between Moscow, Kiev, Beijing and Washington, an expert in peace initiatives since his intervention in Mozambique together with the Community of Sant'Egidio, of which he was ecclesiastical assistant, and who has always maintained relations of great friendship with the Patriarchate of Moscow.

Czech-Canadian Michael Czerny and Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski are among those who have been most vocal in their support for ‘tormented Ukraine’ and are well acquainted with the ‘Russian world’, together with many other cardinals of Slavic ethnicity or close to the Russians, such as the Poles Kazimierz Nycz, Grzegorz Ryś and the almost 80-year-old Stanislaw Rylko, who remained in the ranks of electors for a few months before reaching the age of exclusion.

Also worth mentioning are the Lithuanian Rolandas Makrickas, the Croatian Josip Bozanić, the Hungarian Peter Ërdo, the Serbian Ladislav Nemet and the Bosnian Vinko Pulić, not to mention the young Ukrainian-Australian Mykola Bychok, while Central Asian Catholics will be represented by Italian Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, a symbol of Pope Francis's ‘peripheral Churches’ of Pope Francis for his mission to Mongolia.

All Asian cardinals have, for various reasons, had extensive contact with Eurasian Russia, as have African cardinals in recent years, given the Moscow Patriarchate's initiative in opening Russian parishes in Africa to draw them away from the ‘schismatics’ of the Greek Patriarchate of Alexandria, which supports Ukrainian autocephaly.

The Americans also have the opportunity to assess more closely the effects of the waltz between Putin and Trump, which is occupying the fundamental part of current geopolitics.

A great connoisseur of Russian culture, language and spirituality is the prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, the Italian Claudio Gugerotti, former nuncio to the Caucasus, Belarus and Ukraine, a specialist in the Slavic East since his youth. Nor can we forget the prefect of the Dicastery for Christian Unity, the Swiss Kurt Koch, who has been pursuing ecumenical dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church for years.

Finally, one of the candidates most remembered by the press is the Italian Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the holy place of all Christians, where Russians have always maintained a very active and intense presence.

The Sacred College therefore has no shortage of skills and experience to navigate this delicate relationship with the Moscow Church and the Kremlin emperor, who seeks to impose himself universally in the military, political and religious spheres.

The Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill (Gundjaev), recently visited the ‘Easter Gift’ festival in Kolomenskoe Park in the Russian capital, a charity initiative featuring a vintage market, a collectors' exhibition and a creative workshop run by Moscow universities, as well as a “honey fair” to celebrate the “beauty and sweetness” of Russia's new life.

The most valuable works from past eras were on display to illustrate the traditions of Easter in Russia and around the world, such as Easter eggs made of porcelain, wood and glass, and a series of national postcards and photographs from the early 20th century, as well as retro records featuring church choirs and bell concerts from all the churches in Russia.

The patriarch seeks to show the ‘Russian paradise’ in contrast to the devastation of war, recalling his first visit to the capital back in 1955 and praising above all the construction of hundreds of new Orthodox churches in Moscow, the ‘heroic city’ in the resistance to Nazism alongside Leningrad and Stalingrad, where the grandiose and menacing dome of the Cathedral of Victory stands today, built five years ago to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Great War, now 80 years ago.

This is precisely the maximum age of the cardinal electors, providentially born after the end of the most terrifying hostilities of the last century and called upon to give a response of hope and love in those of the new millennium.

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