Pope Leo XIV has written to Volodymyr Zelensky to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day and to express his views on the more than three-year-long conflict that has been raging since Russia's invasion in February 2022.
“With a heart wounded by the violence that ravages your land, I address you on this day of your national feast,” the Pope wrote to the Ukrainian president on 24 August. The pontiff assured Zelensky of prayers for “those wounded in body, for those bereaved by the death of a loved one, and for those deprived of their homes”.
