Pope Francis Sending Cardinal Krajewski Back to Ukraine to Deliver Four More Ambulances

The Polish cardinal, who since 2013 has been papal almoner, the person in charge of carrying out charitable works in the name of the Holy Father, has already visited the country more than a dozen times since the outbreak of the war in 2022.

The press release quotes Pope Francis from his Easter Day 2024 urbi et orbi message: Only Jesus “opens the doors to life,” the pope said, “those very doors we keep shutting with the wars spreading throughout the world.”

For the Vatican, the pope’s words “become action to break down the barriers and bring the Easter light into the shadows of darkness.” 

The pontiff’’s donation comes at “this time of Easter rebirth,” in which the pope wanted to make “a gesture of closeness in one of the most painful places where war has been raging for three years: tormented Ukraine.”

“Three years that for the Holy Father are a ‘painful and shameful anniversary for humanity.’ Pope Francis always remembers the Eastern European country, both in the Angelus prayer and in his appeals for peace, which constantly refer to other dramatic situations such as in Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, Kivu, and Sudan,” the statement reads. “The gift of the four ambulances thus becomes a sign of jubilee hope anchored in Christ.”

Last Friday, in a new diplomatic effort between the Vatican and Russia, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, telephoned Sergei Lavrov, minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation.

The Holy See press office stated that the conversation focused on “the overall picture of world politics” with “particular attention to the situation of the war in Ukraine” and “some initiatives aimed at stopping the military actions.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.