Pope Francis has urged Moscow and Kyiv to agree on a ceasefire in anticipation of Easter, in the hope that a ceasefire will lead to peace talks.
“Put down your weapons!” said at the end of the Sunday of Poor Sunday in front of tens of thousands of believers in St. Peter’s Square, in the Vatican City.
“Let an Easter truce begin. “But not to re-equip ourselves and start the battle again, but to achieve peace through real negotiations,” the pope said.
The two sides have held rounds of peace talks in Belarus since the war broke out in February, but so far delegations have failed to agree on a ceasefire.
It was the first time after two years of pandemic that Pope Francis met the faithful again in St. Peter’s Square. At his side during the service were 35 cardinals, 30 Catholic bishops and 280 ordinary priests.
Francis wanted to emphasize, once again, the tragic developments of the war in Ukraine.
“When one uses violence, one no longer knows anything about God – who is the Father – nor our fellow human beings, who are brothers. He forgets why he is in the world and commits inconceivable atrocities. “We see it today, in the insanity of the war, in which Christ is crucified once again,” the pope stressed.
“Christ is nailed to the cross once again, when mothers mourn the unjust loss of their husbands and children. He is crucified when the refugees try to run to escape the bombs, with the children in their arms. “It is crucified when the elderly are abandoned alone and die, the young lose their future, the soldiers are sent to kill their brothers,” said Francis, addressing the thousands of worshipers who filled St. Peter’s Square.
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