Pope Francis said this Sunday that the Vatican is willing to “do anything” and put themselves at the service of peace to achieve a solution to the war in Ukraine, and announced that two of your delegates have traveled to that country to help and carry your message.
What is happening in Ukraine “is not a question of a military operation, but of a war”, which “sows death, destruction and misery”Francis said at the end of the Sunday Angelus prayer before hundreds of people gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, many of them carrying Ukrainian flags and with the colors of the rainbow of peace
The pontiff also assured that the Holy See is “willing to do everything” for peace and revealed that two cardinals have traveled to Ukraine in recent days to bring aid.
“In these days two cardinals have gone to Ukraine, to serve the people, to help: Cardinal Krajewski, giver of alms, to bring help to the most needy, and Cardinal Czerny, prefect ‘ad interim’ of the Dicastery for the Service of integral human development”, affirmed the Supreme Pontiff
A group of nuns with the Ukrainian flag during the Angelus. Photo: AFP/Filippo Monteforte.
“This presence of two cardinals there - he added - is the presence not only of the Pope, but of all the Christian people who want to approach and say: ‘War is crazy, please stop. Look at this cruelty“.
After the Angelus, the Pope launched an appeal for the end of the war in Ukraine, a country through which “rivers of blood and tears”while “the victims are always more numerous, as well as those who flee, especially mothers and children” and “it grows dramatically from hour to hour the need for humanitarian assistance“.
“I send a heartfelt appeal to secure humanitarian corridors and to guarantee and facilitate aid access to besieged areas to offer vital aid to our sisters and brothers oppressed by bombs and fear,” Francis added.
And he emphasized that “above all, I implore you to stop the armed attacksthat negotiation and also common sense prevail and that International Law is respected again”.
Francis wanted to thank “all those who are welcoming the refugees”, but also the journalists on the ground “who, in order to guarantee information, put their own lives at risk”.
“I implore the armed attacks to cease,” the Pope said. Photo: Reuters..
“Your service allows us to be close to the drama of this population and appreciate the cruelty of war,” he said, before being interrupted by the applause of the faithful gathered in the square, with whom he prayed a Hail Mary for Ukraine.
On Saturday, Francis posted a new tweet in Ukrainian and Russian on his @Pontifex account, in addition to the nine other languages he regularly uses in his Twitter messages, to call for peace in Ukraine.
“We ask the Queen of Peace to spread her mantle over us: Under your protection we welcome, Holy Mother of God: do not despise the pleas of us who are in trial, but deliver us from all danger, oh glorious and blessed Virgin! “, is the phrase that the Pope chose for the tweet, which he accompanied with the image of an ancient Marian icon.
DD
