On Wednesday, March 10, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, His Holiness’s Almoner, visited centers in Lviv where refugees are welcomed and aid for the military is collected: the Jesuit Refugee Service, St Nicholas House of Mercy, and the Garrison Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
Cardinal Krajewski was accompanied by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC, and Stepan Sus, Bishop of the Curia of the Major Archbishop.
During his visit, Cardinal Conrad shared the goal and desire of Pope Francis, which guided the Cardinal as he and Cardinal Michael Czerny were sent by His Holiness on this journey. "Presence is the first name of love. That is why we must be present here. In addition to the moral support and sharing of faith that we carry, there is also hope that can help us get out of this terrible situation. We are also working to provide very specific assistance, whether through diplomatic channels or on the ground,” stated His Holiness’s distributer of charity.
Responding to the question of a Christian's involvement in the current war, the cardinal said he has three weapons for fighting.
“I am not a diplomat. I came here with evangelical logic. We imitate Christ, who was with the suffering people. The Holy Father also applies this gospel logic. That is why we are here, that is why we pray, because our weapon is faith. Our weapon is also hope. As a matter of fact, the Gospel speaks of the three most powerful weapons: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Today, the whole world is giving alms to Ukraine. This almsgiving means that I feel bad, that I also suffer because I have to share myself with others. And we are doing it now. And we also speak about prayer. We recently heard about it in a gospel passage: the one who knocks eventually finds that the doors are opened. The one who prays receives, but it pays off to be persistent. And finally, another powerful weapon is fasting. Fasting means that I invite God in, I desire His presence. Through fasting, I try to distance myself from everything that does not belong to God in order to leave room for Him. This is the weapon we bring. Faith is able to move mountains, not to mention an insane war. This is another powerful force which Ukraine has: through faith, through love of country and family, you are able to resist, you are able to save your homeland,” the papal envoy stated.
Obviously, the arrival of Cardinals Konrad Krajewski and Michael Czerny does not have a predetermined program. "We will travel as widely as possible," Krajewski said.
“Prayer is an extremely powerful weapon. It is feared by those who attack you,” said the Almoner of His Holiness at the conclusion of his short interview.
More details about Cardinal Krajewski’s visit to the social services centers of Lviv can be seen in Taras Babenchuk’s report on “Live TV” (“Zhyve Telebachennia”).
As we have already reported, following the visit to the social service centers, the Pope's envoy took part in a joint ecumenical and interreligious prayer service for Ukraine, which was held in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv.
We recall that the Holy See has placed itself at the service of achieving peace in Ukraine. During the Angelus Prayer in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, March 6, Pope Francis announced in an extraordinary gesture that he had sent two cardinals to show the Church's solidarity with the suffering Ukrainian people: Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Almoner of His Holiness, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.