During his Palm Sunday homily, a commemoration held exactly a week before Easter Sunday, Pope Francis spoke about the “madness of war”, which was understood as a direct message about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The speech was made to more than 65,000 faithful who attended the ceremony in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
“When violence is used, nothing more is known about God, who is Father, nor about the others, who are brothers. One forgets why one is in the world and one comes to carry out absurd cruelties,” Francis said.
He even remembered the victims of the war. “Christ is nailed to the cross once more in mothers who mourn the unjust death of husbands and children. He is crucified on the refugees who flee the bombs with the boys in their arms. He is crucified in the elderly left alone to die, in young people deprived of a future, in soldiers sent to kill their brothers. Today, Christ is crucified there”, said the pontiff.
After the Palm Sunday ceremony, the pope returned to the war theme shortly before praying the Angelus with the faithful. The Pope stressed that nothing is impossible for God, including the cessation of “a war whose end cannot be seen, a war that every day puts before our eyes hideous massacres and atrocious cruelties carried out against defenseless civilians”, and called on people to pray for an end to the conflict. The pope also called for a truce and for progress in peace talks.
“Lay down your weapons, start a paschal truce, but not to reload your weapons and resume the fight, no! A truce to reach peace through true negotiation, also willing to sacrifice for the good of the people. Indeed, what victory will be the one that will plant a flag over an accumulation of rubble? Nothing is impossible with God. We entrust to Him through the intercession of the Virgin Mary”, asked the Pope.
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