The flag that tells of the horror of Bucha

At the end of the General Audience on Wednesday morning, 6 April, Pope Francis made another appeal for peace in Ukraine, decrying the massacre of civilians in Bucha, the “victims whose innocent blood cries to Heaven and implores: put an end to this war”! Earlier, he had shared his experience of his recent journey to Malta, which he described as a “rose of winds”, where peoples and cultures meet. The following is a translation of the Holy Father’s appeal.-

Recent news of the war in Ukraine, rather than bringing relief and hope, confirms new atrocities, like the massacre in Bucha: ever more horrendous cruelty even against defenceless civilians, women and children. They are victims whose innocent blood cries to Heaven and implores: put an end to this war! Silence the weapons! Stop sowing death and destruction! Let us pray together for this…

And yesterday, precisely from Bucha, they brought me this flag. This flag comes from the war, precisely from that war-torn city, Bucha. And also here, there are some Ukrainian children with us. Let us greet them and pray together with them.

These children had to escape and come to a foreign land: this is one of the fruits of war. Let us not forget them, and let us not forget the Ukrainian people. It is hard to be uprooted from your own land due to war.