Pope wishes "just and lasting peace" to Ukraine
In his traditional Christmas message, Pope Francis called for an end to the war in Ukraine.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the European Parliament.
Francis devoted two sentences of his Christmas message to the mention of full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine.
"Let the weapons be silent in long-suffering Ukraine! May there be enough courage to open the door for negotiations and gestures of dialogue and meeting to achieve a just and lasting peace," he said.
Speaking about the events in the Middle East, the Pope also called for "silence of arms" as well as the release of hostages and assistance to "the population exhausted by hunger and war."
Earlier, Pope Francis called for a "Christmas truce" around the world, mentioning Ukraine, which is suffering from Russian shelling.
The day before, he called Ukrainians and Russians "cousins" and called for understanding.
