UPDATE 1-Pope says Ukraine warfare fuelled not simply by ‘Russian empire’

(Adjustments key phrases for media purchasers, provides touch upon resignation, background)

VATICAN CITY, March 10 (Reuters) – The warfare in Ukraine is pushed by the pursuits of a number of “empires” and never simply of Russia’s, Pope Francis stated in an interview printed on Friday.

Francis stated the battle was fuelled by “imperial pursuits, not simply of the Russian empire, however of empires from elsewhere”.

He expressed a readiness to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin to name for peace.

The pontiff was talking to Italian Swiss tv RSI, in an interview attributable to be broadcast on Sunday. Extracts had been printed on Friday by Italian dailies La Repubblica, La Stampa and Corriere della Sera.

Francis, who’s 86 and marks the tenth anniversary of his election on March 13, additionally stated he would resign if he acquired too drained and misplaced the capability to control the Roman Catholic Church.

Final month, he had stated that papal resignations ought to occur in solely distinctive circumstances.

His predecessor Benedict XVI, who died on Dec. 31 aged 95, turned the primary pontiff to resign in about 600 years when he stepped down in 2013.

Requested what would lead him to make the identical determination to stop, Francis stated: “A tiredness that does not make you see issues clearly. A scarcity of readability, of understanding methods to consider conditions”.

Francis stated he was “a bit ashamed” to make use of a wheelchair attributable to a knee ailment.

“I’m outdated. I’ve much less bodily resistance, the knee (drawback) was a bodily humiliation, even when the restoration goes effectively now,” he stated. (Reporting by Alvise Armellini, modifying by Federico Maccioni, Robert Birsel)