The Pope asks for an “Easter truce” in Ukraine, “to reach peace with real negotiations”. Patriarch Kirill invites the faithful to unite to fight “Moscow’s internal and external enemies”. On war and especially on peace, the vision of Francis and that of the top of the Russian Orthodox Church remain at the antipodes even on Palm Sunday. At the Angelus, during Mass at St. Peter’s, Bergoglio expresses sorrow because “Christ is once again nailed to the cross in mothers who mourn the unjust death of their husbands and children, in refugees fleeing bombs with children in their arms, in elderly left alone to die, in young people deprived of future, in soldiers sent to kill their brothers ”. Kirill, a close friend of Putin, the head of a church that has 150 million followers, invites the faithful to pray that “in this difficult period for our homeland, may the Lord help each of us to unite, even around power, so that true solidarity in our people will emerge, the ability to reject external and internal enemies and to build a life with more good, truth and love ».
The madness of war
Those who unleash “the madness of war” are the new “crucifiers of Christ”. The anathema pronounced by Francis during his first celebration with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square could not be more severe since the beginning of the pandemic. A condemnation to which, at the Angelus, the Pontiff adds a strong appeal: that for an “Easter truce” in which “arms are put away” to “reach peace through real negotiations”.
The appeal against the enemies of Russia
Bergoglio’s words are counterbalanced by those of Kirill, who invites supporters to unite to fight “Moscow’s internal and external enemies”, thus returning to support the intervention in Ukraine. “This is how true solidarity in our people will emerge, as well as the ability to reject external and internal enemies and to build a life with more good, truth and love.”
In front of 65 thousand pilgrims
The distances seem almost unbridgeable today. But in front of the approximately 65,000 pilgrims who have returned from all over the world to fill the Bernini oval, colored by hundreds of floral decorations, the Mass of the Palms and the Passion of the Lord which opens Holy Week becomes an opportunity for the Pope to put more emphasis on the conflict in Ukraine. “When violence is used, nothing is known about God, who is Father, nor about others, who are brothers – he says in his homily -. One forgets why one is in the world and ends up committing absurd cruelties ». “We see it in the madness of war, where we return to crucify Christ”, warns the Pontiff. “Christ is crucified there today”, he reiterates, recalling the phrase of Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing”, regarding “that ignorance in the heart that all of us sinners have”. Then at the Angelus, again from the Vatican churchyard, the Pope proclaims: “Put away your arms, let an Easter truce begin. But not to reload your weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to achieve peace, through real negotiations, also willing to make some sacrifices for the good of the people. In fact, what victory will it be that will plant a flag on a heap of rubble? ».
Easter and war
Introducing the Marian prayer, Bergoglio recalls that “it was precisely the Angel of the Lord who, in the Annunciation, said to Mary:” Nothing is impossible for God “. Nothing is impossible for God – he repeats -. Also to put an end to a war whose end is not in sight ». «Let us pray about this – he continues -. We are in the days leading up to Easter. We are preparing to celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ’s victory over sin and death. On sin and death, not on someone and against someone else ». At the end, another scene that had not been seen since before Covid: Francis on the “popemobile” discovered that goes around St. Peter’s Square among the thousands of applauding faithful. In spite of everything, a sign of renewal and hope.