In front of tens of thousands of Catholics on Easter Sunday at Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Pope Francis called for Russia and Ukraine to do a full prisoner swap.
“In calling for respect for the principles of international law, I express my hope for a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine,” AFP quoted Pope Francis saying.
Through the course of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the two sides have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war.
In January for instance, Ukraine exchanged 248 of its prisoners in exchange for 230 of its own in a deal mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukrainians to stay strong and not to allow the daily Russian shelling to break their spirits.
“Hello Ukrainians and all Christians who celebrate Easter today. A holiday that reminds us of the power of spirit that will not let darkness win,” Zelensky wrote on his Facebook page.
The president said that no day or night goes by without Russian missiles and kamikaze drone attacks.
“But we defend ourselves, we endure, our spirit does not give up and knows that it is possible to avert death. Life can prevail,” he said.
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Comments (3)
I feel if the Pope wanted to do what is right, he would ask his large Catholic following to support Ukraine and / or the allied governments already doing this.
There is no point though in him trying to find middle ground with the murderous tyrant in russian. This war is a straight forward battle of good versus evil. A moral church leader or religion would have a strong view on this.
After his last debacle though (the white flag one), I'm not sure he is looking for either justice or the salvation of the Ukrainian people from russia's murderous tyrant. Ukraine's surrender to putin would only result in many more Ukrainian deaths.
Human dementia or Catholic Church doctrine? From whence flows his words?
That is the question.
Catholics think that God directs the Cardinals in choosing the new Pope. They think wrong. The Pope is just an ordinary human elevated to the position by other ordinary humans.
He is well versed in Catholic teachings, but he doesn’t know any more than you or I about politics.
Are Catholic teachings holy? Many would argue no, that science, based on fact, is what we should be listening to, not spiritual fantasy.
With old age , the brain do detoriate. Its a fact. Theres too many in high positions thats past there prime.