Pope Francis held this Saturday a new call to end the war in Ukraine, unleashed by Russia’s invasion of that country. The Pontiff asked to think “of children, whose hope of a dignified life is taken away.”
“Never war! Think above all of the children, whose hope of a dignified life is taken away: dead, injured, orphaned children; children who have war residue as toys,” Francisco posted on his Twitter account.
Referring to the escalation of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Pope asked to pray together and pleaded: “In the name of God, stop!”
Francis did not hide his deep concern about the war that broke out in Ukraine after the attack ordered by the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and even offered the mediation of the Holy See.
The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and conveyed to him the will of the Holy See of “do everything, put yourself at the service of peace”.
In addition to having sent food and medicine, Francis sent two cardinals to Ukraine to offer their services to the population and the displaced: they are the Polish and papal beggar Konrad Krajewski and the czech Michael Czerny Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development.
On February 25, one day after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Pope made a surprise visit to the Russian embassy to the Holy See to try to mediate the conflict.
Francisco adopted the unprecedented decision despite being confined due to severe pain of inflammatory origin in his right knee, which had forced to cancel their commitments.
For its part, Pietro Parolin in an interview published this Saturday by the Vatican media, he reverted to diplomacy although he pointed out that the Social Doctrine of the Church “has always recognized the legitimacy of armed resistance against aggression.”
“But I think that given what is happening it is essential to ask: Are we doing everything possible to reach a truce? Is armed resistance the only way? I understand that these words, in the face of the slaughter of women and children, in the face of the millions of displaced people, in the face of the destruction of a country, may sound utopian. But peace is not a utopia“, argument.
Finally, insisted on “the total availability” of the Holy See for any type of mediation that can promote peace in Ukraine.