This was St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for the Angelus prayer. A hectic weekend filled with Jubilee events, boosted by good weather and the arrival of pilgrims from all over the world.
There, at the beginning of “Red Week,” a week dedicated to raising awareness about the problem of the persecution of Christians, the Pope denounced this tragedy.
LEO XIV
I am thinking in particular of Bangladesh, Nigeria, Mozambique, Sudan, and other countries from which news of attacks on communities and places of worship often arrives.
Not long ago, on November 14 in Congo, the Allied Democratic Forces, linked to the Islamic State, carried out a brutal terrorist attack on a diocesan health center run by nuns. They murdered women in the maternity ward, local villagers, and then set the facility on fire.
LEO XIV
I accompany with my prayer the families of Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where in recent days there has been a massacre of civilians, with at least twenty victims due to a terrorist attack. Let us pray that all violence ceases and that believers may work together for the common good.
Once again, the Pope prayed for Ukraine, where the attacks have not stopped. On the day of the Angelus, it had been 1,359 days since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
LEO XIV
I follow with sorrow the news of the attacks that continue to strike numerous cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv. Such attacks cause victims and injuries — among them children — and enormous damage to civilian infrastructure, leaving families without homes as the cold advances.
This is the fourth winter that the Ukrainian people have spent under attack, with the possibility of peace still distant. According to the UN, since February 2022 more than 14,500 people have died and nearly 40,000 have been injured.
CA
Trans. CRT
