During the afternoon Mass for the Catholic community of Kazakhstan, Pope Francis asked to pray for "dear Ukraine".
Source: DW.com
"I think about the numerous places that suffer from the war, first of all, about my beloved Ukraine. Don't get used to the war, don't put up with its inevitability. We help those who are suffering. We insist that real efforts are made to achieve peace. That this should happen, how many deaths still need to wait before the confrontation gives way to dialogue for the benefit of people and humanity? The only way out is peace, and the only way to reach it is dialogue," he said.
On Wednesday, September 14, Pope Francis spoke at the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Nur-Sultan. During the conference, the pontiff did not directly mention either Ukraine or Russia. However, he said that religion should never be used to justify the "evil" of war, probably alluding to the actions of the Russian Orthodox church.
"God is peace and always leads to peace and never to war. Therefore, let us devote ourselves even more to promoting and strengthening the need for conflicts to be resolved not by insignificant arguments of force, weapons and threats, but only by the means that Heaven blesses, worthy of man: meeting, dialogue, patient negotiations," Pope Francis said at the conference.
The pontiff's visit to Kazakhstan will last until September 15. About 100 delegations from 50 countries attend the two-day Congress. The Pope called his trip a "pilgrimage of dialogue and peace."
For the 85-year-old Pope, who suffers from knee issues and spends most of his time in a wheelchair, this is his third trip abroad in 2022 after trips to Malta and Canada. In August, he still planned to visit Kyiv and Moscow. But later, the pontiff said that the doctor forbade him to make foreign visits, so this will not happen in the near future. But the pope did not cancel his visit to Kazakhstan.