Vatican City – On the occasion of Ukraine’s national holiday, Pope Leo XIV sent a message to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, expressing closeness and sorrow for the suffering of the people scarred by war.
“With a heart wounded by the violence that ravages your land,” the Pope wrote, “I address you on this day of your national feast.” Words that reveal the weight of a tragedy still unfolding before the eyes of the world. The Pope assured his prayer for “those wounded in body, for those mourning the loss of a loved one, and for those who have been deprived of their homes.” To each of them he extended a concrete thought, invoking God’s comfort for the living and eternal rest for the dead.
The silence of arms and the path of dialogue
In his message, Leo XIV issued an explicit appeal to the international community and to all political leaders: “I implore the Lord to move the hearts of people of good will, that the clamour of arms may fall silent and give way to dialogue, opening the path to peace for the good of all.”
An invitation that continues the constant thread of the Pontiff’s teaching: peace as a common good, not as a concession from one side, but as a path that passes through the conversion of hearts and the choice of reconciliation. Finally, the Pope entrusted Ukraine “to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace,” as if to place in the maternal heart of the Church the wounds of a torn people.
A reminder at the Angelus
The thought for Ukraine also echoed during today’s Angelus. Leo XIV recalled that “last Friday, August 22, we accompanied with our prayer and fasting our brothers and sisters who suffer because of wars.” In particular, the Pontiff highlighted the spiritual initiative “World Prayer for Ukraine”, promoted by the country’s Catholic community: “Today we unite with our Ukrainian brothers who… ask the Lord to grant peace to their tormented homeland.”
A fragile but necessary sign of hope
The message does not change the course of the war, nor does it erase the rubble. Yet it reaffirms a precise task for the community of believers and for humanity as a whole: not to grow accustomed to violence, not to resign oneself to conflict, but to continue invoking and building peace. The Pope’s words resound as a warning: the national holiday is also an opportunity to safeguard a dream of freedom and reconciliation. A challenge that belongs to Ukraine, but concerns the whole world.
Silere non possum