A few days before Easter, the pope mentioned, Wednesday, April 5 during his weekly audience, the “war crimes” committed in Ukraine.
At the end of his catechesis, Francis invited the thousands of faithful present in Saint Peter’s Square to pray for “all victims of war crimes” and for the“Martyred Ukraine”.
This is the second time he has used this expression. On March 19, he said that “the martyred Ukrainian people” continued to suffer “because of war crimes”.
But, as the Catholic Church prepares to celebrate Easter, marked by celebrations commemorating the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ, Francis also called during his audience to pray for the mothers of soldiers killed at the front. “My thoughts go out to the mothers of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers who fell during the war, said Francis. They are the mothers of dead sons. Let us pray for these mothers. »
By formulating such a prayer, the pope is continuing the journey begun by Vatican diplomacy since the start of the conflict, in February 2022, trying to keep an equal distance from Russia and Ukraine.
In 2022, a lively controversy
This formula also recalls the attitude of the Pope and the Vatican during Holy Week 2022. A few weeks after the outbreak of the conflict, he had wanted, during one of the Stations of the Cross, to organize Good Friday at evening at the Colosseum, the cross is carried by a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman. This initiative had triggered the wrath of the Ukrainian government.
After several days of heated controversy, Francis had maintained this initiative, but had decided to replace the meditation on the death of Jesus, which was to be read at that time, with a time of silence. According to our information, it was after several interviews with Ukrainians, including a Ukrainian nun, a student in Rome, whom he had consulted, that he had given up reading this text. This phone call had been decisive in the pope’s decision.
A year later, Wednesday, April 5 at midday, the Vatican had not yet given any details on the Stations of the Cross scheduled for two days later. But Vatican sources recalled that “the love of the enemy is at the center of Good Friday”.
“It is at the center of the Christian message, it cannot be put aside, we explain to the Vatican. Obviously, it is difficult to convey this to all those who have enemies, whether Ukrainians or Syrians. But this reversal of human logic is at the heart of what happens at Easter. »