JAKARTA - Pope Francis again calls for peace in Ukraine, calls for an Easter truce in Ukraine, with clear references to Russia, questions the value of planting a victory flag in a pile of rubble.
Pope Francis spoke at the end of his Palm Sunday service in front of about 50.000 people in St Peter's Square, the first time since 2019 the public was allowed to attend, after two years of services being scaled back due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"Put down the arms! Let the Easter truce begin. But not to rearm and resume fighting, but a truce to achieve peace through real negotiations that are open to some sacrifices for the good of the people," he said.
"In a clear reference to Russia, he said: Really, what kind of victory would be a victory that sticks the flag above the pile of rubble?"
Pope Francis previously evoked the horrors of war in his homily, speaking of "mothers mourning the unjust deaths of husbands and children, refugees fleeing bombs with children in their arms, young people losing their future, soldiers sent to kill their brethren".
Since the war began in Ukraine, Francis has only mentioned Russia specifically in prayer, as at the special global event for peace on March 25. However, he refers to Russia by using terms such as invasion and aggression.
Several in the crowd put small Ukrainian flags at the tips of their olive branches, with a woman reading one of the prayers near the altar wearing the blue and yellow flag.
At the end of the service, Pope Francis circled the crowd while sitting in an open white 'pope car', something he had not done for three years on Palm Sunday because of the pandemic.
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Earlier this month, Pope Francis condemned the Bucha massacre, raising a Ukrainian flag sent to him from the city where bound bodies were shot at close range, mass graves, and other signs of execution were found.
"The latest news of the war in Ukraine, instead of bringing relief and hope, has brought new atrocities, such as the Bucha massacre," he said at the end of his weekly audience in the Vatican auditorium, Wednesday, April 6.
"The atrocities are increasingly horrendous, even against defenseless civilians, women, and children. They are victims whose innocent blood is screaming to the sky and pleading: "Stop this war! Let the weapons be silent! Stop sowing death and destruction," Pope Francis said.
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