In February, Ruslana Danilkina (pictured), a 19-year-old Ukrainian soldier, came under fire near the front line around Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine. Shrapnel tore her left leg off above the knee. She clutched her severed thigh bone and watched medics place her severed leg into the vehicle that took her to a hospital. “I was holding Read more
Destroying grain is a “grave offense to God,” Pope Francis said, appealing to authorities in Russia as “my brothers” and urging them to resume cooperating with a United Nations initiative to guarantee the safe transport of grain out of Ukraine. “Let us not cease to pray for beleaguered Ukraine, where the war is destroying everything, Read more
Russia’s latest strike on Odesa on Sunday killed two people and severely damaged a historic Orthodox cathedral, drawing a vow of retaliation from Ukraine’s leader. The attack came as President Vladimir Putin met his Belarusian counterpart for talks in Russia and claimed Kyiv’s counteroffensive had “failed”. Russia has pounded the Ukrainian port city of Odesa Read more
Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Pope Francis’s personal peace envoy for the war in Ukraine, closed a two-day visit to Washington DC Wednesday, capping a whirlwind round of high-level civil and ecclesial meetings. Zuppi was in Washington DC from July 17-19 along with an unnamed representative of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State to “continue the mission Read more
Russia has reacted positively to the Pope’s Ukraine peace initiative. There are no immediate plans for a Vatican mission to Moscow, however. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement about the peace initiative was Moscow’s first public acknowledgement of the pope’s overtures. It followed the Vatican’s weekend announcement that Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi (pictured), has been suggested Read more
Pope Francis has entrusted Cardinal Matteo Zuppi (pictured) to head the Russia and Ukraine peace mission on behalf of the Vatican, the Holy See press office said on Saturday. Zuppi is a prominent Italian cardinal known for his close association with the pontiff. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni announced the development on Saturday, revealing that the Read more
Pope Francis spent 40 minutes speaking privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican, their first face-to-face meeting since the war began. After literally hundreds of public prayers for peace in Ukraine and 443 days after Russia launched an all-out war on the Eastern European country, Pope Francis welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Read more
The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin confirmed Thursday that there is a Vatican peace plan to try to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. He expressed surprise that officials in both countries claimed ignorance of the Vatican’s plan. “Based on my knowledge, they know, but you know how it is, in bureaucracies, it could Read more
A German Cardinal covered many topics in a recent media interview – blasphemy, the pope, LGBT and the German bishops featured in Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s comments. One comment was that Pope Francis should correct and, if necessary, punish some German bishops. Müller was referring to those who have approved “heretical texts” and “proposals directly against Read more
An agreement allowing shipments of grain to flow from Ukraine through the Black Sea to developing countries has been extended, officials said on Saturday. The agreement was first signed with the United Nations and Turkey in July last year, following a halt to shipping and fears of a global food crisis after Russia invaded Ukraine. Read more