Speaking in his Angelus address on March 3 about the Israel-Hamas war, Pope Francis made an emotional plea for negotiations to reach a deal that both frees the hostages immediately and grants civilians access to humanitarian aid. / Credit: Vatic… […]
In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual state of the nation address at the Gostiny Dvor conference center in central Moscow on Feb. 29, 2024. / Credit: GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
CNA Staff, Feb 29, 2024 / 16:05 pm (CNA).
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech on Thursday cautioned that any Western military intervention in support of Ukraine could potentially lead to nuclear conflict.
“[The West] must understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory,” Putin, who is widely expected to hold onto power in an upcoming election, said in a Feb. 29 speech to Russia’s Federal Assembly.
Warning of “tragic consequences” if NATO forces were ever deployed to Ukraine, Putin continued, as reported by the Washington Post: “All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don’t they get that? … [Russia’s] strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness.”
Putin’s speech came two days after French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that the deployment of foreign forces to Ukraine remained an option.
“We will do everything needed so Russia cannot win the war,” Macron said at a news conference. He said there is no consensus to “send in” troops on the ground, but said “nothing can be ruled out.”
In response to Macron’s remarks, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the idea that Europe could send ground troops to Ukraine opens a “frightening scenario” that could “bring about the escalation that we have always tried to avoid from the beginning.”
“It’s a scenario that I wouldn’t call apocalyptic because perhaps that’s an exaggerated word at this moment, but certainly it’s fearsome,” Parolin said Feb. 27, as reported by Vatican News.
The cardinal, who has called for peace in Ukraine but also previously warned of the dangers of escalation, lamented that “no prospect of a solution on the horizon, be it military or negotiated.”
“It would be ideal to really find a way to get the two sides to start talking and dialoguing,” Parolin added to Vatican News. “I believe that if we talk, a solution will be found.”
Pope Francis has spoken before of the danger of the possibility of a nuclear war “that will extinguish us.” The pope’s words came shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, at the start of which Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces to be put on high alert, raising fears of the possibility of a nuclear war.
Pope Francis waves to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Feb. 25, 2024, during his weekly Angelus reflection. The pope canceled his audiences the day before due to mild flu conditions, according to the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Feb 25, 2024 / 09:55 am (CNA).
A day after canceling his audiences due to what the Vatican called a “mild flu-like condition,” Pope Francis appeared in good form during his weekly Angelus address Sunday, marking the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine with a call for peace while urging the faithful to “never direct your eyes away from the light of Jesus.”
“How many victims, injuries, destruction, anguish, tears in a period that is becoming terribly long and of which the end is not yet in sight,” the pope said about the war, which began with Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, adding that the conflict has “unleash[ed] a global wave of fear and hatred.”
“While I renew my deepest affection for the tormented Ukrainian people and pray for everyone, in particular for the numerous innocent victims,” Pope Francis said, “I implore that that bit of humanity be found that allows us to create the conditions for a diplomatic solution in search of a just and lasting peace.”
The Vatican said Pope Francis canceled his audiences on Feb. 24 as a “precaution.” When the Vatican said that Francis had a “mild flu” in November, the pope underwent precautionary testing at a Rome hospital. The 87-year-old pope canceled a trip to Dubai in December after his doctors advised him not to travel because of a bronchial infection.
But on Sunday he was back in public view for the weekly Angelus. Reflecting on the Gospel reading for the second Sunday in Lent — Mark’s account of the Transfiguration — the pope described the apostles’ mountaintop experience with Jesus as a transformative moment where Christ “physically manifests himself there in all his light.”
The Transfiguration, he said, sums up all of Jesus’ works up until that point of his ministry, while foreshadowing his Passion.
“The preaching of the Kingdom, the forgiveness of sins, the healings, and the performed signs were, indeed, sparks of a greater light, namely, of the light of Jesus,” the pope said from the window of his study in the Apostolic Palace, overlooking nearly 20,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
The Holy Father stressed that it is an event that reminds all Christians that “God is light,” which allows us to “seek his face, that is full of mercy, fidelity, and hope.” In this way we can keep Christ fixed as a singular point of reference as “we journey through life.”
The pope declared: “Always keep the luminous face of Christ before our eyes,” adding, “never direct your eyes away from the light of Jesus.”
Pope Francis suggested that this encounter with the living God is done principally through “prayer, listening to the Word, the Sacraments, especially Confession and the Eucharist.” But, underscoring the sacramental dimension, is also a deeply personal, human element.
It is a call for the faithful, the pope suggested, to seek God in one another, noting that it can serve as a “Lenten resolution” that enables us to become “seekers of the light of Jesus.”
“But it also helps to look people in the eyes,” he continued, “learning to see God’s light in everyone and cultivating the ability to marvel at this beauty that shines in each one, without exception: in those close to us and in those we do not know; in the happy gazes of those who are joyful and in the tears of those who are sorrowful; in the sad and dimmed eyes of those who are tried by life and of those who have lost their enthusiasm; and even in those whom we find it difficult to look in the face, preferring to turn away.”
Borys Gudziak, archeparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. / Credit: Matt Cashore / Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 31, 2023 / 18:10 pm (CNA).
The Catholic Church in Ukrain… […]
Pope Francis addresses reporters on Aug. 6, 2023 aboard the papal flight on his return to Rome from his five-day trip to Portugal and World Youth Day. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Aug 6, 2023 / 16:15 pm (CNA).
On his return flight from Wo… […]
Pope Francis addresses the crowd in St. Peter’s Square in his Sunday Angelus on July 16, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jul 30, 2023 / 06:10 am (CNA).
Pope Francis made a direct call to Russia on Sunday to renew the deal that allow… […]
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
CNA Newsroom, Jul 18, 2023 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
Veteran Vatican diplomat Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher last week defended what he described as Pope Francis’ “strong and courageous” push fo… […]
President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi (center) attends the consistory for the creation of new cardinals at St. Peter’s Basilica on Aug. 27, 2022, in Vatican City. / Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Rome Newsroom, Jul 17, 2023 / 05:25 am (CNA).
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Italian prelate tasked by Pope Francis to head a peace mission between Ukraine and Russia, is traveling to Washington, D.C. this week, the Vatican announced.
The cardinal’s visit comes only weeks after the Biden administration announced it was sending an additional $800 million in weapons to aid Ukraine’s counteroffensive — including morally problematic “cluster bombs” that have been banned by most countries, including the Holy See.
Zuppi, who has already visited both Ukraine and Russia, will be in the U.S. capital from July 17-19 and will be accompanied by an official from the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.
“The visit will take place in the context of the peace promotion mission in Ukraine and aims to exchange ideas and views on the current tragic situation and to support humanitarian initiatives to alleviate the suffering of the most affected and most fragile people, especially children,” read the Vatican statement announcing Cardinal Zuppi’s visit.
The Vatican has not disclosed with whom Zuppi will meet during his three-day visit.
The United States has been a major provider of military support to Ukraine since the country was invaded by Russia on Feb. 24, 2022. To date, the U.S. has sent $41.3 billion in military aid to the Eastern European country, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The latest round of support has drawn criticism from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), as well as bishops conferences from other countries, for its inclusion of cluster bombs in the military package. Cluster bombs present an especially grave threat to civilians given that they impact indiscriminately large areas and often do not explode until long after impact.
One hundred twenty-three countries signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Bombs, which explicitly bans the use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of the munitions. The U.S., however, along with Russia and Ukraine, are not signatories of the convention.
In a statement following the Biden administration’s announcement, Bishop David Malloy, head of the USCCB’s international justice and peace committee, underscored that the U.S. bishops have long advocated the U.S. government to sign the convention.
“Pope Francis has addressed the conventions on antipersonnel mines and cluster munitions, exhorting all countries to commit to these conventions ‘so that there are no more mine victims,’” Malloy wrote.
“While recognizing Ukraine’s right to self-defense, we must continue to pray for dialogue and peace,” he added. “I join with our Holy Father in supporting and sharing in his moral concern and aspiration.”
Cardinal Zuppi has played a prominent role in promoting peace between Ukraine and Russia since Pope Francis asked him in May to lead a peace mission on behalf of the Vatican. The cardinal, who is the archbishop of Bologna and the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, has strong ties to the influential peace-building community Sant’Egidio, a lay Catholic association that has taken part in peace negotiations in many countries including Mozambique, South Sudan, Congo, Burundi, and the Central African Republic.
As part of his peace mission, he visited Kyiv June 5-6, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other political and religious leaders. The papal envoy then visited Moscow from June 28-29, a trip that included a meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Cluster bomb. / Credit: aindigo/Shutterstock
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 14, 2023 / 11:15 am (CNA).
The head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace expressed concern this week over t… […]
A photograph taken on July 3, 2022 shows an tail section of a 300mm rocket which appear to contained cluster bombs launched from a BM-30 Smerch multiple rocket launcher embedded in the ground after shelling in Kramatorsk, amid the Russian invasi… […]
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