Pope Francis on Sunday appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, imploring him to stop this spiral of violence and death in Ukraine, and denounced what he called the absurd risk of nuclear war.
Francis made his strongest appeal yet on the seventh-month war as he addressed the public in St. Peter's Square.
The pontiff also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be open to serious peace proposals. He also exhorted the international community to use all diplomatic instruments to end this huge tragedy and horror of war.
The Pope on Sunday said that he was abandoning his usual religious theme to focus on the situation in Ukraine. “How the war is going in Ukraine has become so grave, devastating and threatening that it sparks great worry,” Associated Press quoted the Pope saying.
The Pope, referring to the war as an 'inconceivable wound of humanity,' lamented that instead of shrinking the wound continues to bleed even more and threatens to spread, the publication reported.
“It, in fact, increases the risk of a nuclear escalation, to the point of fearing uncontrollable and catastrophic consequences on the world level,” the Pope said, AP reported.
The pontiff said that he is pained by thousands of victims (of war), including children, and by the destruction caused by war that renders many persons homeless. “Certain actions can never be justified, never,″ the pope was quoted saying by AP.
Pope said it anguishes him that the World is learning Ukraine's geography through names like Mariupol, Izium, Zaporizhizhia and other places which have become places of 'indescribable sufferings and fears.'
Pope Francis appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war. He also appealed to Ukraine president to be open to serious proposals of peace.
(With inputs from PTI)
