!['As empty gestures go, impressive': WaPo's Jennifer Rubin mocks Pope Francis' visit to Russian embassy over Ukraine invasion — and gets torched for it](https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/as-empty-gestures-go-impressive-wapo-s-jennifer-rubin-mocks-pope-francis-visit-to-russian-embassy-over-ukraine-invasion-a.jpg?id=29428107&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C49)
Photo by: William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images (left); Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images
Pope Francis visited the Russian embassy to the Holy See on Friday to express concern over Russia's invasion of Ukraine — a move that Reuters characterized as an "unprecedented departure from diplomatic protocol."
The outlet said Moscow's ambassador, Aleksandr Avdeyev, told the RIA Novosti news agency that during the 40-minute meeting, Francis expressed "great concern" about Ukraine's humanitarian situation and quoted the pontiff as calling "for the protection of children, the protection of the sick and suffering, and the protection of people."
But formerly conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin wasn't impressed.
Replying to a tweet from NBC News' chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel on the pope's appeal, Rubin remarked, "As empty gestures go, impressive."
as empty gestures go, impressive— Jennifer 'I stand with Ukraine' Rubin \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Jennifer 'I stand with Ukraine' Rubin \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1645794255
As you might imagine, a number of Twitter users who caught wind of Rubin's five-word dismissal of Pope Francis' rare act were equally dismissive of Rubin and her words:
pic.twitter.com/66OcC5LDga— Drew Holden (@Drew Holden) 1645805303
Reuters noted that a pope visiting an embassy to talk to an ambassador in a time of conflict "is unprecedented in living memory," adding that the Vatican's secretary of state usually summons foreign envoys to meet with the pope in the Apostolic Palace.
The outlet also said that prior to Russia's invasion, Andriy Yurash — Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican — told Reuters that Kyiv would be open to a Vatican mediation of the conflict.