ROME – Vatican Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin has defended Pope Francis’s recent remarks suggesting that Ukraine step back and consider opening negotiations to end its ongoing war with Russia.

The Pope’s comments received a significant amount of backlash, especially his comment about “the courage of the white flag”. Speaking to Italian journalist Gian Guido Vecchi in an interview published in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Italy’s paper of record, Parolin said the Pope’s appeal for Ukraine is that “conditions be created for a diplomatic solution in the pursuit of a just and lasting peace”.