Wars always have wildly unforeseen consequences, eviscerating a status quo and violently shaping new realities. While most pundits are pondering the geopolitical, diplomatic and military fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s war also seems destined to have important consequences on the religious scene.
As tanks rolled across the Ukraine border and Russian missiles bombarded major cities, the Catholic faithful in parishes across the Diocese of Brooklyn held prayerful Masses for the Ukrainian people this past weekend to offer hope and support for the war-ravaged European nation.
Prosecutors in El Salvador have brought charges against a former president for the murders of six Jesuits in 1989, a crime carried out by soldiers during a brutal civil war in the Central American country.
The Vatican is ready to facilitate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
Pope Francis said his heart was “broken” by the war in Ukraine, and he pleaded again, “Silence the weapons!”
As Russian troops approached Ukraine’s capital, Pope Francis phoned the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, offering his encouragement and promising, “I will do everything I can” to help.
An estimated 5.2 million children in 21 countries, including the United States, lost at least one parent, a custodial grandparent or a primary caregiver to COVID-19 during the first 20 months of the pandemic, social researchers and child well-being advocates said in a new study.
Women religious in Ukraine are facing Russia’s full-scale invasion of that nation with determined faith and a commitment to service.
On Wednesday, Archbishop Borys Gudziak spent time in Lisieux, France, at the grave of St. Thérése, praying for Ukraine and for Russian President Vladamir Putin’s conversion, so that Russia and the rest of the world could be free of his tyranny.
As Russia continued its assault on Ukraine and Russian troops pressed toward the capital, Kyiv, Pope Francis left the Vatican Feb. 25 to pay a visit to the Russian ambassador to the Holy See.
