Pope Francis once again asked for the terrible situation that “the martyred Ukraine” has been experiencing since it was invaded by the Russian army on February 24.
At the end of the General Audience, before the thousands of faithful pilgrims present in Saint Peter’s Square, Pope Francis recalled that Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Pope’s beggar, is in the country at war.
The Holy Father explained that the Cardinal called him by phone from Odessa, a Ukrainian city where the Cardinal has brought humanitarian aid.
“He has told me about the pain of this town, the savage actions, the monstrosities, the tortured corpses they find. Let us join this noble and martyred people”, said the Pope with a serious and worried face.
The President of Ukraine, Vlodímir Zelensky, assured last Thursday that “Russia must be held accountable for the deaths that have occurred” and said that large numbers of bodies that were tortured have been found, a fact that Russia continues to deny.
“The world must hold Russia accountable for this war. We will do everything we can to make that happen,” he said.
For his part, the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, explained that “450 bodies of civilians with traces of violent death and torture were buried in a forest area. It is hard to imagine something like this in the 21st century, but now it is a tragic reality in Izium.”