The Polish Conference of Major Superiors of Women said March 15 that an estimated 18,000 refugees from Ukraine were receiving spiritual, psychological, medical and material help at 924 convents in Poland and that close to 500 of those communities are sheltering almost 3,000 adults — mostly women — and more than 3,000 children.
You’ll never complain about a long walk again after hearing the story of 11-year-old Theodore Gaynullin and his mother, who traveled 15 miles — on foot — to the Polish border to flee war-torn Ukraine.
Pope Francis will consecrate Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary during a penitential prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica March 25, the Vatican said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not invade Ukraine out of concern that NATO would encroach on his borders, but concern about “the disease of democracy that could spread like a virus, and that’s deadly for oligarchies and authoritarian rulers,” said the archbishop who serves as a “foreign minister” for the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
When news broke that Vladimir Putin had ordered the Russian troops to invade Ukraine, Deacon Daniel Galadza was in Rome, taking part in a conference at the Vatican’s Congregation for Eastern Churches.
A top United Nations official said March 6 that the world hasn’t seen a refugee crisis such as the one developing in Eastern Europe, caused by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, since the last World War.
Stephen Coutcher, a Rhode Island seminarian who spent the summer of 2018 teaching English in Ukraine, urged those who feel helpless about the current situation there to pray for peace.
Pope Francis praised Poland’s welcoming of refugees escaping the violence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last month, as Rozita Gerhardt helped Afghan refugees complete their asylum applications, she thought of her mother, who years ago fled Iran, and how this was just the first step of what will be a lifelong process.
Although the United States left Afghanistan at the end of August, it left behind thousands still affected by the resulting turmoil.
