World has discovered brave and strong people of Ukraine — Pope Francis
Photo: REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Nine months after the start of russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Pope Francis addressed the Ukrainian people with a letter.
The letter dated November 24, translated from Italian to Ukrainian by the Secretariat of the UGCC head in Rome.
"Dear Ukrainian brothers and sisters! It's been nine months since an absurd, insane war was unleashed on your land. In your sky, the ominous roar of explosions and the alarming sound of sirens are constantly resounding. Your cities are bombarded while a hail of rockets mercilessly and contemptuously carries death, destruction, pain, hunger, thirst, and cold.
Many of you were forced to flee the streets of your cities, leaving behind your own homes and all your belongings. Besides your great rivers, rivers of blood and tears are shed daily.
I unite my tears with yours, and I want to tell you that there is not a day when I would not be near you and would not keep you in my heart and in my prayers. Your pain is my pain.
I see you on the cross of Jesus today — those who suffer from the horrors caused by this aggression. And indeed, the cross on which the Lord was tortured is again manifested in the terrible tortures we see on corpses, in mass graves discovered in various cities, in these and in many other bloody pictures that have broken into our souls and raise a cry: Why? How can people treat other people like this?".
The Holy Father recalled the killed children and the pain of Ukrainian mothers, the youth who took up arms, and the wives who lost their husbands, volunteers, refugees, and internally displaced persons.
Pope Francis also noted that he sincerely prays for the Ukrainian government, which has the responsibility of managing the country in tragic times and "making far-sighted decisions for peace and economic development in the face of the destruction of many vital infrastructures in cities and villages."
"In all this sea of evil and pain, 90 years after the terrible genocide of the Holodomor, I admire your kind spirit. Despite the great tragedy you are going through now, your people have never lost spirit or despaired.
The world discovered a brave and strong nation, a nation that suffers and prays, cries and fights, resists and hopes: a long-suffering and noble nation.
I continue to be with you in heart and prayer, with human care, so that you feel accompanied, so that you do not get used to war so that you do not remain alone today, and especially tomorrow, when you may be tempted to forget about your suffering.
In these months, when the harsh climate makes even more tragic what you are going through today, I want you to feel on your faces the affectionate touch of the Church, the power of prayer, and the love with which many brothers and sisters around the world are enveloping you."
The Pope noted that Christmas would be in a few weeks – "and the cry of suffering will become even more palpable," but the Holy Family also had to face trials that night, but the light came "not from men, but from God; not from the earth, but from Heaven."
"May His mother and ours, the Mother of God, watch over you. To her Immaculate Heart, in unity with the bishops of the whole world, I consecrate the Church and humanity, particularly your country and russia. To her Motherly Heart, I bring your sufferings and your tears.
As the great son of your land wrote, let us not tire of asking for the longed-for gift of peace, being certain that "nothing is impossible for God!" (Luke 1, 37). May He fulfill the just hopes of your hearts, heal your wounds and give you His consolation. I am with you, I pray for you, and I ask you to pray for me.
May the Lord bless you and the Mother of God protect you," the Pope noted.
We will remind that on November 23, Pope Francis strongly condemned Russia's war against Ukraine and linked it to the Holodomor, which the pontiff called genocide.
