Pope Francis has said he is considering a visit to Kyiv as he condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for launching a "savage" war. Speaking after his arrival in Malta, he delivered his most pointed and personalised denunciation yet of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Francis did not cite the Russian president by name, but the reference was clear when he said "some potentate" had unleashed the threat of nuclear war on the world in an "infantile and destructive aggression" under the guise of "anachronist claims of nationalistic interests".
"We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past," Francis told Maltese officials and diplomats on the Mediterranean island nation at the start of a weekend visit.
