Vatican

Pope Francis blessed a special Easter basket during a private audience with Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly and his family at the Vatican April 11.

In Russia’s war on Ukraine, “the forces of evil” are clearly at work, leading to “abominable” attacks on innocent people and widescale destruction of their homes, Pope Francis said.

Jesus obeyed the most challenging of commandments: to love one’s enemies; and he invites humanity to do the same by breaking a vicious cycle of evil, sorrow and hatred with love and forgiveness, Pope Francis said on Palm Sunday.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said it appeared Ukraine could keep Pope Francis safe if he made a wartime trip to Kyiv, but the pope’s safety was not the Vatican’s only concern.

Pope Francis avoided speaking directly about Russian President Vladimir Putin and instead focused on condemning war as a cruel and inhumane act that “goes against the human spirit.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople pledged solidarity with Ukrainians forced to flee their country and thanked neighboring Poland for showing “generosity, charity and hospitality” since the start of the Russian invasion.

Pope Francis renewed his call for an end to the war in Ukraine and strongly denounced the conflict as a barbaric act used by those in power at the cost of innocent lives.