He Pope Francis again advocated this Sunday for “a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine” and assured “the availability” of the Vatican to “support any effort” to achieve his release, before the thousands of faithful gathered this Sunday in St. Peter’s Square.
“And let us continue to pray for peace, whether in Ukraine, in Palestine, in Israel, in Myanmar (Burma), let us pray for peace,” he concluded.
The Pope already requested on March 31, on Easter Sunday and during his Easter message “a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine”, months after the diplomatic mission of the Holy See for the war of Ukraine was stagnant.
Shortly after the start of the war, Francis appointed the Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to take charge of a primarily humanitarian mediation mission.in order to get the Ukrainian children deported to Russia to return to their country, but for the moment there have been no results.
“Please, let us continue to pray for the martyred Ukraine that suffers so much and also for Palestine and Israel, so that peace may come and dialogue between them may be strengthened and bring good fruits,” Francis said. And he added: “No to war, yes to peace and dialogue.”
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