Pope Francis sent a letter to His Beatitude Sviatoslav regarding the massive attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukraine on December 29, 2023, and January 2, 2024. The Head of the Catholic Church called Russia's actions "unworthy and unacceptable" and emphasized that such actions "cannot be justified in any way."
As reported by the Information Department of the UGCC, citing the Secretariat of the Head of the UGCC in Rome, the Pontiff sent a response letter to the letter from the Head of the UGCC dated December 29 of last year, in which he informed the Pope about the tragic consequences of Russia's largest missile attack across Ukraine.
"Once again, through you, I want to express my closeness to the 'suffering Ukraine,' mourn the dead and entrust them to God's mercy, comfort the wounded, and embrace all those suffering in any way. I am close to the Pastors who try to give hope to people in a 'situation that seems increasingly hopeless'," the Pope's letter said.
"Along with you, I share the same feelings of indignation and pain that you feel before the military operations that, by striking the civilian population and civilian infrastructure throughout the country, are unworthy and unacceptable and cannot be justified in any way," he assured His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
Pope Francis considers it extremely dangerous that "against the backdrop of dramatic international events, there is a risk that the war in Ukraine may become a 'forgotten' war." Therefore, "it is our duty to do everything so that this war is not shrouded in silence - not only to be horrified by tragic facts but above all, to compel everyone who is responsible and the international community to seek peaceful solutions," emphasized the Holy Father.
In his letter, Pope Francis recalled that he uses every opportunity to prevent the war in Ukraine from being "forgotten." "In today's general audience [January 3, 2024], I called not to forget the peoples where there is war, recalling that 'war is madness, war is always a loss. Let us pray. Let us pray for the people in Palestine, Israel, Ukraine, and many other places where war is ongoing.' I also repeated this on January 1, World Day of Peace, and will continue to do so, loudly calling until the noise of weapons in Ukraine ceases, and the path to a just peace begins.