Vatican City, 01 May, 2022 / 8:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis has again lamented the suffering caused by the invasion of Ukraine and encouraged the faithful to pray a rosary every day for peace.
Speaking to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square after the May 1 Regina Caeli prayers, the pope said his thoughts went immediately to the city of Mariupol, the “city of Mary” which has been “barbarously bombed and destroyed.”
“I suffer and weep, thinking of the suffering of the Ukrainian people and in particular of the weakest, the elderly and children,” he said. “There are even terrible reports of children being expelled and deported.”
He again called for safe humanitarian corridors for those trapped in the city, now largely under Russian control.
Pope Francis said he wondered whether peace really is being sought amid “a macabre regression of humanity.” He asked if everything possible is being done to “silence the weapons,” Vatican News reports.