The Pope This Wednesday he rated the war in ukraine as “a shameful disgrace for all humanity” during the general audience held in the Plaza de Saint Peter and which was attended by the wife of the Ukrainian president, Olena Zelenskaaccompanied by the first ladies of Lithuania, Serbia y Armenia.
Francis stated that the 1,000 days of conflict that have just been fulfilled remember the suffering of the Ukrainians “and at the same time a shameful disgrace for all humanity.”
“However, this should not deter us from stand with the martyred Ukrainian people, praying for peace and working together so that weapons give way to dialogue and disagreement to encounter,” he added.
During the hearing He also read a letter from a Ukrainian university student, in which he assured that suffering is also loving and that that is why the 1,000 days of war were also days of love.
Zelanska, together with the Lithuanian first ladies, Diana Nausediene; serbia, Tamara Vucicand Armenia, Anna Hakobyanattended the audience in the front row and were able to exchange a few words with the pontiff afterwards.
Francisco had lamented this Tuesday the “immense tragedy” of Ukraine and expressed his desire that “paths of dialogue and reconciliation” be undertaken, in a letter on the occasion of the thousand days of war after the russian invasion.
“It will be God who pronounces the last word on this immense tragedy,” he said in the letter addressed to the archbishop and apostolic nuncio (Vatican ambassador) in Ukraine, Visvaldas Kulbokaspublished by the official portal Vatican News.
Likewise, the pope published a message on the social network X about Ukraine to predict a “just and lasting peace.”
“War is always a defeat. I ask once again to end the madness of violence and commit to a just and lasting peace. Let us pray for the Ukrainian people”wrote the pope on his account in several languages on the social network X.
Francis has not left a single day in all his audiences or Angelus prayers, as well as in his Christmas messages, to ask for peace and pray for “the martyred Ukraine.”
Likewise, he commissioned Cardinal Matteo Zuppi mediate to at least achieve a series of agreements for prisoner exchanges or for the return of deported children to Russia.
For his part, the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolinacknowledged his wish that this anniversary “shake” those who can “stop the carnage” in Ukraine.
“We cannot surrender to the inevitability of war! I sincerely hope that this sad day, the thousandth since the beginning of the full-scale war against Ukraine, provokes a jolt of responsibility in everyone and in particular in those who can stop the ongoing carnage,” he said in Vatican News.
(With information from EFE)
