Children from ATO areas in eastern Ukraine meet with the Pope

At the initiative of the Embassy of Ukraine to the Holy See, on Wednesday, August 19, 2015, Pope Francis received at the general audience the children from Ukraine that come from the territories of the antiterrorist operation in eastern Ukraine. During the meeting, held on the eve of 24th anniversary of the Independence of Ukraine, the children, some of whom are orphans from the families of Donbas and ATO soldiers, asked the Holy Father to pray for peace in Ukraine, to visit their homeland and presented the painting depicting an Orthodox cathedral on the backdrop of Ukrainian landscape.

“Although we are Orthodox, today's meeting with the Pope means to us to revive the hope for a better future, the hope for reconciliation between our people,” Vatican daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano cites the participants.

From July 22 to August 28, a group of children from the Ukraine affected by the armed conflict in the East, stays in Italy for rehabilitation and recreation under the joint project of the Embassy and the charitable Catholic organization “I Bambini visti dalla Luna” (Cazalincontrada, Abruzzo region), where they lived in Italian families.