Pope Francis will welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy back to the Vatican Oct. 11.
Ukraine
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis expresses concern about religious freedom in Ukraine: ‘The churches are not to be touched.’
During the Aug. 25 recitation of the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis expressed his concern over a recent Ukrainian law that proscribed the Russian Orthodox Church.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
From Benedict XV to Francis: Popes have long played peacemaker in war—and faced criticism for their stance
There are no simple answers as to how to end a war. Benedict XV’s prophetic but ignored call for “a stable peace honorable to all” in World War I should be an example for Pope Francis.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Ukraine and the troubling future of A.I. warfare
Reports are already surfacing of drones launched into Russia that are relying on artificial, not human, intelligence in decisions to evade defensive countermeasures, pick targets and finally conclude a strike.
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis, in Easter message, calls for ceasefire in Gaza and prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine
The pope called for specific, concrete, immediate steps that political leaders could take to end the wars and bring peace to the Holy Land and to Ukraine.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
‘Beyond the edges of humanity’: A Good Friday homily from the frontlines of war
Right there at the cross, in Jesus, our humanity doesn’t fall beyond its edges. Even there, even then, he continues to love. And even in that dense darkness—or loneliness—that he experiences as a human being, he doesn’t let himself forget that he is loved too.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Vatican Dispatch
Interview: Pope Francis’ foreign minister on Gaza, Ukraine and the future of the church in China
Does the Holy See think Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza? Did Pope Francis call on Ukraine to surrender? Gerard O’Connell asks these questions and more in an exclusive interview with Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
Posted inFaith, News
Ukraine’s top Catholic bishop: Pope Francis’ calls for negotiations with Russia are ‘deeply hurtful’
Ukrainians had already experienced a “crisis of faith in the pope’s primacy,” Major Archbishop Shevchuk said, and that the pope’s latest statements were “deeply hurtful.”
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Ukraine military chaplain: Preaching hope to a world at war on Good Friday
When reflecting on the life, death and resurrection of the Lord while living in a state of military invasion and active war, “everything becomes more authentic,” and “God ceases to be just a concept,” says Andriy Zelinskyy, S.J. “He really becomes a source of life and all hope for you and for those who are around you.”
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
11 Years of Pope Francis: What’s next?
On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle discuss what’s next for Pope Francis on the 11th anniversary of his election.