Pope Francis said on Friday there was no apparent end in sight to the Ukraine war as his peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, wrapped up three days of talks in Moscow. “The tragic reality of this war that seems to have no end, demands of everyone a common creative effort to imagine and forge paths Read more
Escaping Ukraine to New Zealand is next to impossible because of the requirements and cost involved. The war in Ukraine has forced nearly six million to flee the country and has displaced more than seven million internally. New Zealand hung out the welcome mat in March, when the Government provided 4,000 special visas for family Read more
War is creating a new unity between the various Christian Churches in Ukraine, Catholic Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk told the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity last Friday. It also poses two big challenges to the global Church. War is everyone’s responsibility “First, there is a need for a new reflection on the social doctrine of Read more
There’s no doubt suffering has its own unique smell and associations, a priest serving in Ukraine says. For him, the smell of burned homes and lives is tied to the metaphoric “smell of sheep”. Francis says priests need to learn what suffering smells like. It will be coming from human lives and they need to Read more
Pope Francis has given Russia’s President Vladimir Putin the edge of his tongue for launching a “savage” war. Rather than use the Russian president’s name, Francis instead referred to Putin as “some potentate” who had unleashed the threat of nuclear war on the world in an “infantile and destructive aggression” under the guise of “anachronist Read more
Ukrainian refugees, especially women and children, need to be protected from human traffickers say Catholic Church leaders. “Let us think of these women and children who in time, without work, separated from their husbands, will be sought out by the ‘vultures’ of society. Please, let us protect them,” tweeted Pope Francis. Catholic aid workers’ concerns Read more
A bomb struck the headquarters of a Catholic diocese on Tuesday in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, causing extensive damage to the building. According to the Italian news agency SIR, forty people were sheltering in the basement of the diocesan chancery when the bomb landed on March 1, but no injuries were reported. Kharkiv Read more
The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church said that priests “will descend to the bomb shelters” of Kyiv on Sunday to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. In a video message on February 27, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk noted that the residents of Ukraine’s capital are unable to attend church due to a government-mandated curfew. Citizens Read more