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Pope Leo XIV said Sunday that he discussed both the Gaza war and the conflict in Ukraine directly with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday renewed the Holy See’s support for a two-state solution in the Holy Land and voiced concern over rising tensions in Ukraine.
“With a heart wounded by the violence that ravages your land, I address you on this day of your national feast,” the pope wrote in the letter.
The Holy See Press Office confirmed on Monday that the two leaders had spoken after the pope expressed concern for Ukraine during his Sunday address.
“May the weapons be silenced and Christmas carols resound!” Pope Francis insisted on Sunday.
“Think of the Ukrainian children and young people who suffer at this time without heating in a very harsh winter,” the pope said on Nov. 27, addressing youngsters gathered around him in St. Peter’s Square.
In a letter sent to Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, Pope Francis expressed his great sorrow for the suffering of the people there.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday at the end of a diplomatic visit to the country.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will meet with religious and civil authorities, including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Pope Francis made a strong appeal for peace on Sunday calling modern warfare “a crime against humanity” that sows death among civilians and destroys cities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the pontiff expressed “his wishes of peace — just peace for all of us” during the Dec. 28 phone call.
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski is in Ukraine this week to open the House of Refuge “in the name of Pope Francis, as a sign of support and closeness.”
Veteran Vatican diplomat Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher last week defended what he described as Pope Francis’ “strong and courageous” push for peace in Ukraine in the face of criticism from some who have said the Holy Father should take a harder line against Russia as the aggressor in the conflict.
Pope Francis’ envoy to Ukraine Cardinal Matteo Zuppi on Tuesday finished a “brief but intense” two-day visit to Kyiv, which included a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
One week after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Pope Francis urged that “we must not get used to war” as he prayed for peace in Ukraine and Sudan.
Pope Francis and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met at the Vatican on Saturday.
Ukraine’s prime minister told journalists Thursday that he has asked Pope Francis for help getting back children forcibly deported to Russia.
Pope Francis has invited Catholics to annually renew an act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25.
One year from the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, a Catholic priest recounted how a Ukrainian soldier was spared from being killed by praying the rosary.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said Ukrainians need spiritual strength as much as ever as they mark one year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country.