GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

Pope Francis Celebrates ‘Easter of War’ But Does Not Blame Russia

It is the first time the pontiff has been able to celebrate the event in front of a massive crowd since the pandemic began.

Pope Francis celebrated Easter Sunday mass in St. Peter’s square in Rome for the first time since 2019. The pontiff, who has expressed a desire to visit Kyiv and facilitate peace talks, continued to name Ukraine as the victim, but not Russia as the aggressor in the war. “Our eyes, too, are incredulous on this Easter of war. We have seen all too much blood, all too much violence,” he said Sunday during his Urbi Et Orbi address to the world. “Our hearts, too, have been filled with fear and anguish, as so many of our brothers and sisters have had to lock themselves away to be safe from bombing.” Francis has been criticized for not naming Russia or Vladimir Putin specifically, but rather chiding Western countries for supplying weapons to Ukraine he says do not foster peace. On Sunday, he continued to avoid naming Russia, instead praying for peace for Ukraine, whose people he said are “sorely tried by the violence and destruction of the cruel and senseless war into which it was dragged.”