Pope meets Ukrainian first lady, decries war as ‘shameful tragedy’
Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaks with Franciscan Father Enzo Fortunato, communications director for St. Peter’s Basilica, before Pope Francis’ weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Nov. 20, 2024. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)
By Cindy Wooden, CNS – With Ukraine’s first lady seated in the front row, Pope Francis told people at his general audience that it is “a shameful tragedy for all humanity” that Russia’s war on Ukraine has lasted more than 1,000 days.
Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, attended the audience Nov. 20 in St. Peter’s Square and greeted the pope after he spoke. She had also met privately with him before the audience.
Addressing visitors and pilgrims in the square, the pope noted that Nov. 19 had marked the 1,000th day since Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine, “a tragic milestone for the victims and for the destruction it has caused.”
As the war continues, Pope Francis said, people must remain alongside the Ukrainian people, pray for peace and “work so that weapons give way to dialogue, and conflict gives way to encounter.”
The pope then read aloud a letter he said he had received from a Ukrainian university student who knew the pope would talk about Ukraine at his general audience as he has done almost every Wednesday since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Addressing the pope as “Father,” he asked that Pope Francis speak not only about the suffering and death that 1,000 days of war have caused but to “also bear witness to our faith.”
“Even though it is imperfect, its value does not diminish; it paints, with painful strokes, the image of the risen Christ,” the letter said.
The young man said that he had already “witnessed too much death in my life,” and that “living in a city where a missile kills and injures dozens of civilians, witnessing so many tears, is hard.”
“I wanted to flee, to go back to being a child embraced by my mother,” the student wrote. “Honestly, I wanted to dwell in silence and love. But I thank God because, through this pain, I am learning to love more.”
“Pain is not merely a path toward anger and despair,” the letter continued. “If grounded in faith, it becomes a good teacher of love.”
The young Ukrainian told Pope Francis that he had discovered that “if pain hurts, it means you love.”
Therefore, he asked the pope, “when you speak of our pain, when you remember these thousand days of suffering, also remember the thousand days of love, because only love, faith and hope give true meaning to wounds.”
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