War in Ukraine

With hundreds of millions of lives at risk because of the Russian blockade of grain exports out of Ukraine, Pope Francis appealed for an end to the blockade and a resolution to the crisis.

After setting white flowers at a statue of Mary, Queen of Peace, Pope Francis prayed the rosary and asked Mary to intercede to bring peace to Ukraine and to every place in the world torn by violent conflict.

The president of the Polish bishops’ conference criticized the Vatican’s “naive and utopian” attitude to the war in Ukraine and urged Rome to show “greater maturity” in attitudes toward Russia.

Warning that the Russian Orthodox patriarch should not “turn himself into Putin’s altar boy,” Pope Francis also said he would like to go to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin in an attempt to end the conflict in Ukraine.