The Pope today condemned the war in Ukraine and all those taking place around the world, stressing that they destroy “all the peoples involved”.
During two audiences at the Vatican, Francis referred to the “victims of the war that is destroying not only Ukraine, but all the people involved in the war”.
Because war does not only destroy the defeated people, but also the victor and those who observe with superficial eyes. War destroys everyone,” he said during an audience with Italian pilgrims.
“The tragedies we are currently experiencing, in particular, the war in Ukraine, so close to us, remind us of the urgency of a civilization of love. In the eyes of our brothers and sisters, victims of the horrors of war, we read the need profound and urgent need of a life marked by dignity, peace, and love”, he added, in another audience with participants in a conference.
Francis resumed his public agenda today after canceling Friday’s appointments to undergo medical examinations, according to official Vatican sources.
The Pope has frequently expressed his concern about the war in Ukraine, after the Russian invasion that began on February 24, having even proposed mediation by the Vatican.
However, this week he decided not to go to Kiev as he had considered doing, nor to meet with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.
The Pope stated that he cannot “do anything that jeopardizes superior objectives, which are the end of the war, a truce or, at least, a humanitarian corridor”.
The Russian Orthodox Church previously supported Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine (as Moscow refers to the invasion of the neighboring country), which, according to experts, was one of the reasons for the suspension of the meeting between Kiril and Pope Francis, which would take place in June.
At the same time, Francisco said in an interview with the newspaper La Nación that his relationship with Kiril, with whom he met only once in Havana in 2016, is “very good”.
“Our diplomacy understood that a meeting of the two at this time could lead to a lot of confusion”, he explained.
Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine on February 24 that has killed more than 2,000 civilians, according to United Nations (UN) data, which warns that the real number is likely to be much higher.
The war has already caused more than 12 million people to flee, more than 5 million of them out of the country, according to the UN – the worst refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
Source: with agencies