On the white flag: why pontiffs call for understanding with murderers

About the white flag and white smoke.

I love physics and mathematics, but the greatest science of our time is still history. Because history develops in a spiral, and all the events that are happening now are repetitions, but in a different capacity. And these repetitions are given to humanity precisely so that humanity may have intelligence and not make past mistakes.

It has already happened, hasn't it? On the eve of World War II, the Vatican called for concessions to Nazi Germany. On March 2, 1939, Cardinal Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli became the new Pope under the name Pius XII.

And in April (how quickly!) the new pontiff proposed peace talks with the Nazis, hoping to mediate between the great European powers on the brink of war. But first he contacted the leader of the Italian fascists, Benito Mussolini (how unexpected). And only after his approval, the Vatican sent proposals for negotiations to Paris, Berlin, London, and Warsaw.

Since 1938, France and Britain had been making concessions to Hitler. First, they agreed to the occupation of Austria, and then they actually forced Czechoslovakia to give Hitler the Sudetenland to prevent a major war in Europe.

The Vatican's strategy in the new peace negotiations was much the same: to satisfy another territorial whim of the Nazis.

Now the Pope tried to put pressure on Poland to support the occupation of the city of Danzig.

For two years, the Vatican called on the world to reach an understanding with the Nazis.

And in March 1940, von Ribbentrop and his entourage arrived at the papal residence. And no one was surprised that the Nazi minister arrived with a Nazi flag, refused to bend the knee, as was customary when approaching the Pope, and instead threw down his hand in a Nazi salute.

That is, even then the Pope was already greeted with the Nazi salute, and everything was fine for the Vatican.

It seemed that I should remember for the rest of my life what the policy of flirting with murderers and the Nazi salute in the Vatican had led to. But apparently, at the venerable age of the popes, something happens to their memory. Or maybe it's something else?

In thirty pieces of silver, which today have a very pompous name: "Instituto per le Opere di Religione" But behind this name is a bank in which corporations established for religious purposes can invest anonymously, confidentially, and tax-free. Data on the bank's activities and financial position are not disclosed. The bank is not subject to the financial police or financial intelligence of Italy, the EU or the United States.

The bank reports directly to the Assembly of Cardinals and the Pope.

It is well known that since Obama's time, Putin's funds have been stuck in the Vatican Bank accounts. They were blocked at the request of the United States and remained there. It would be fine if it was a billion dollars, but a quarter of a trillion was stuck there, and this is a pretty tangible amount even for old Kabayev. The money was transferred there on the advice of Putin's personal friend, then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. In general, the Americans came across Putin's "niche" by accident under the pretext of investigating corruption in UEFA. It was then that they had legal grounds to block the funds. It was then, in hot pursuit, that Putin urgently came to the Vatican and tried to influence the Pope to help unblock the accounts.

And then everything falls into place. And calls for Russian youth to carry the Russian heritage to the world. And calls for a white flag in front of murderers and terrorists. And the Pope's speech about the "innocently murdered" Daria Dugina. And complete silence about the thousands of innocent people killed in Bucha, Mariupol, Borodyanka, Irpin, Kharkiv, Melitopol, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Kakhovka, Zaporizhzhia. So why mention them? After all, their relatives and cronies do not keep a trillion dollars in your bank.

But all of these pontiffs, patriarchs, presidents, dictators are people. Just people who are also chosen by people. And the One who created this universe has nothing to do with them. And now, finally, I want to mention physics. Because white smoke happens when white phosphorus is burned, or it's just water vapor condensing under the influence of cold air. Let's keep going.