By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After literally hundreds of public prayers for peace in Ukraine and 443 days after Russia launched an all-out war on the Eastern European country, Pope Francis welcomed Ukrainian President to the Vatican. The topics of the conversation May 13 included “the humanitarian and political situation in Ukraine caused […]
Ukrainian church leaders have cautiously welcomed news of a Vatican visit by their country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after a fresh wave of Russian missile attacks in anticipation of a counteroffensive by Kyiv’s forces.
Ivan Smyglia and Denys Kurpikov say they had “no other option” but to assist in delivering food and much-needed supplies to some of the hardest-to-reach and most dangerous places in a country at war.
Shortly after urging people to pray the rosary for peace and entrusting the people of Ukraine to Mary’s care, Pope Francis met briefly with Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, director of external relations for the Russian Orthodox Church.
Russia’s seizure of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine has undermined global nuclear security, while serving as a “wake-up call” to ending energy dependence on Russia, said experts at a recent panel discussion hosted by a Catholic college.
The Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known colloquially as the “Dominican Church,” is the best-known landmark in Ternopil in western Ukraine. Before World War II, it was a Dominican Catholic Church, closed by the communists in 1945 and handed over to Ukrainian Catholics in 1989.
A close papal adviser has said that despite a spate of denials, the secret Vatican peace mission to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that Pope Francis referenced over the weekend does, in fact, exist and could yield results within a few weeks’ time.
Moscow is not working with the Vatican to end the war in Ukraine, said a Kremlin spokesperson.
While neither Hungary’s Viktor Orbán nor his most prominent guest this weekend, Pope Francis, have appeared anxious to play up their differences, there’s no getting around the fact that the two men represent contrasting versions of Christianity — one focused on identity, tradition and family values, the other on welcome, dialogue and the social gospel.
On his second day in Hungary’s capital, Pope Francis met a group of poor people and refugees, including several who fled the war in neighboring Ukraine, and urged society to let go of selfish indifference toward those in need.
