At the Angelus Pope Francis’ appeal for Ukraine

Rivers of blood

epa09806183 The body of a civilian who was killed while attempting to flee the city lies covered ...
11 March 2022
What is happening in Ukraine is a “war”, not a “military operation”. At the beginning of his new appeal for peace, Pope Francis refuted the fake news that would like to present what is happening with verbal subterfuge to mask the cruel reality of the facts. Francis described what is there for all to see — gutted civilian homes, the elderly, women, the children who were killed, — stating that “rivers of blood and tears are flowing in Ukraine”. These are not casual words. They significantly echo those spoken by the Archbishop of Kiev, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who is living in the besieged Ukrainian capital, among his people. A third emphasis concerns the urgency of humanitarian action. The Pope asked that humanitarian corridors be “genuinely ensured”, and emphasis should be placed on that “genuinely”, which indicates that yesterday, despite ...

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