The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Svyatoslav Shevchuk, brought a piece of a Russian mine to Pope Francis in the Vatican, BBC reports . This is a fragment of a mine that damaged the facade of the temple in Irpin.
“This is a symbolic gift, not only because it is a fragment of a Russian mine that destroyed our temple in the martyr city of Irpen, but also because we extract such fragments of Russian mines, bombs and missiles every day from the bodies of military, civilian and even innocent children, Svyatoslav said. “They are visible signs of total annihilation and death that Russia is bringing to Ukrainian soil.”
Francis once again expressed his solidarity with the Ukrainian people, assuring that he is next to the Ukrainians in prayer and concrete actions, according to the secretariat of the head of the UGCC in Rome, the Vatican News website reported.
Earlier, the Pope said that the cruelty in the war against Ukraine is not inherent in the Russian people. According to Francis, he respects the Russians and considers them humanists. He also noted that Russian literature is very humanistic.
“Just think about Dostoevsky, who still inspires us, inspires Christians to think about Christianity,” said the Pope.
After that, the Ukrainian ambassador to the Vatican, Andriy Yurash, invited the Pope to Ukraine to see the consequences of Russian humanism with his own eyes. The ambassador commented on the last statement of the pontiff on Facebook.
“In order to understand the Russian “humanism” that the Pope believes in, it would be enough just to visit Ukraine now and see how 4.5 million people were left without electricity and water, “enjoying” this Russian “humanism”: orders to bombard Ukraine are given and buttons rocket launches are pressed not by mercenaries, but by sincere “humanists” – followers of Dostoevsky, ”wrote Yurash.