Pope Francis on Sunday (April 10) called for an Easter truce in Ukraine, leading to negotiations and peace.
“Put the weapons down!” he said at the end of a Palm Sunday service for tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square.
“Let an Easter truce start. But not to rearm and resume combat but a truce to reach peace through real negotiations,” he said.
Earlier in the morning, Pope Francis condemned the “folly of war,” as he led Palm Sunday services in St. Peter’s Square, saying in a reference to Ukraine that those who cause mothers to mourn and soldiers to kill know nothing of God.
Since the war began, Francis has only mentioned Russia specifically in prayers, such as during a special global event for peace on March 25. But he has referred to Russia by using terms such as invasion and aggression.
Last Wednesday (April 6), he condemned “the massacre of Bucha” and kissed a Ukrainian flag sent from the town where tied bodies shot at close range littered the streets after Russian troops withdrew and bodies poked out of a mass grave at a church.
The Kremlin says allegations Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians including in Bucha were a “monstrous forgery” aimed at denigrating the Russian army.
