Pope Francis calls Holodomor ‘lacerating wound’ that is made even more painful by war

Due to the pontiff's illness, an employee of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, Paolo Braida, read the address on behalf of the Pope, Ukrinform reports citing Vatican News.

Pope Francis said that Ukraine commemorated the victims of the Holodomor, the genocide by starvation of millions of Ukrainians under the Soviet Union in the 1930s. “That lacerating wound, instead of healing, is made even more painful by the atrocities of the war that continues to make that dear people suffer,” the Pope said, in reference to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

The Pope called for continued, “untiring” prayers for “all peoples torn apart by conflict,” saying that “prayer is the force for peace that shatters the spiral of hatred, breaks the cycle of vengeance, and offers unexpected paths of reconciliation.”

Pope Francis thanked God for the pause in fighting between Israel and Palestine, and for the release of some of the hostages and prisoners held by the warring parties.

He appealed for prayers that all might be freed as soon as possible, urging us to think of their families. The Pope also asked for prayers that more humanitarian aid might find its way to Gaza, while insisting on the need for dialogue. “Those who do not want dialogue, do not want peace!” he said.

As reported, on November 25, Ukraine commemorated the victims of the Holodomor.