During a public reception on Wednesday, the Pope condemned the massacre in Bucca, Ukraine, repeating his call for “silence of arms”, while displaying a flag from the war-torn city. The Pope also invited a group of Ukrainian children to his side, reminding those present not to forget the unarmed civilians, women and children and all Ukrainian people.
(Vatican News Network)“To end this war, to silence the weapons, to stop the mass death and destruction! This is a cry to heaven.” The tone speaks of the “Holocaust” in Ukraine.
“Rather than bringing comfort and hope, recent news about the war in Ukraine confirms new atrocities, such as the Bucca massacre,” the Pope said. “The brutality is increasingly horrific, even against unarmed civilians, women and children. Let it go. The blood of these innocent victims cries to heaven: please let this war end, please silence the weapons, please stop this mass of death and destruction!”
The Pope then invited everyone present to pray for an end to the war. After a moment of silence, the Pope stood up and displayed a Ukrainian flag with a cross on it, with Ukrainian words written around the cross commemorating the 2014 Ukrainian Square Revolution. Holding the flag, the Pope said: “Yesterday, it was from Bucca that the people brought me this flag. This is the flag from the war, from the city that was tormented.”
Afterwards, some Ukrainian children, accompanied by their parents, came before the Pope. The youngest of them was still in his mother’s arms, and the oldest boy held a picture of a waving white hand attached to the Ukrainian flag and a heart over the flag of Italy, which received them. Finally, the Pope reminded those present: “Let us greet them and pray with them.” “These children had to flee their homes and come to a strange country: this is the consequence of the war, and we must not forget them, Don’t forget the Ukrainian people.”
Link website: www.vaticannews.cn