Rome Newsroom, Feb 26, 2022 / 12:10 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis on Saturday expressed his sorrow about the situation in Ukraine in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to the Ukrainian Embassy to the Holy See, Pope Francis had a conversation with Zelenskyy by phone on Feb. 26.
“The Holy Father expressed his deepest sorrow for the tragic events taking place in our country,” the embassy wrote on Twitter.
On his own Twitter account, Zelenskyy wrote that he “thanked Pope Francis @Pontifex for praying for peace in Ukraine and a ceasefire. The Ukrainian people feel the spiritual support of His Holiness.”
Thanked Pope Francis @Pontifex for praying for peace in Ukraine and a ceasefire. The Ukrainian people feel the spiritual support of His Holiness.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 26, 2022
The Vatican press office confirmed on Saturday that there was a telephone call between Pope Francis and Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy is in Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv, after he refused an offer by the United States to be evacuated. According to a U.S. intelligence official, Zelenskyy said: “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.”
Saturday marked the third day of fighting in Ukraine, after Russian military invaded the country in the early morning of Feb. 24.
The death toll among both military and civilians continues to rise. Swaths of Ukrainians are fleeing from the eastern part of the country to the west, or to neighboring Poland. People in the cities of Kyiv and Lviv have been forced to seek safety in shelters or subway stations.
Street fighting broke out in Kyiv on Saturday as Russian troops advanced toward the capital.
In a video recorded in downtown Kyiv on Feb. 26, Zelenskyy said “we aren’t going to lay down weapons. We will protect the country. Our weapon is our truth, and our truth is that it’s our land, our country, our children. And we will defend all of that,” the Associated Press reported.
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Pope Francis would have also expressed his sadness to the Russian ambassador whom he met for about thirty minutes. I have no doubt that he would have also contacted Patriarch Kirill who has a lot of influence in Russia.
Admittedly, I did not know much about Zelenskyy prior to the invasion. According to his Wikipedia page, our friend got his start as a professional comedian and actor. He supports free abortion and medical cannabis distribution. He also favors legalization of prostitution and gambling. None of this justifies Russia’s aggression, but it should make us leery, if we were not already, of the champion of Ukrainian independence.
It is the Catholic Church who caused WWII and the rise of the Russian menace to the world today. In the Second Secret of Fatima, God tells us that it is God, not man, who grants peace to the world.
In the Second Secret of Fatima, God offers the world peace instead of WWII. In God’s offer of peace to the world, God asks that Catholic leaders consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and that mankind repent of their massive sinfulness. Pope John Paul II consecrated Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1984, forty years after God’s punishment of WWII had come and gone. Then, and even now, I see no Catholic leaders preaching to 2 billion Christians, aka The Church, to repent from their sinfulness to avoid war and have God bless us with peace.
The Second Secret of Fatima
You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. Quoted From: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html
Wisdom 14:22
Then it was not enough for them to err in their knowledge of God; but even though they live in a great war resulting from ignorance, they call such evils peace. For while they practice either child sacrifices or occult mysteries, or frenzied carousing in exotic rites, They no longer respect either lives or purity of marriage; but they either waylay and kill each other, or aggrieve each other by adultery.