Pope Leo XIV marked the first Sunday of Lent with an urgent appeal for peace in Ukraine, warning that war remains “a wound inflicted upon the entire human family” as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches.
Addressing pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square for the Angelus on February 22, the Pope reflected on the Gospel account of Christ’s temptation in the desert and called the faithful to embrace prayer, fasting and almsgiving during the Lenten season. He said the conflict had brought “so many victims, so many lives and families shattered, such immense destruction, such unspeakable suffering”.
