(VATICAN NEWS/CNS): Pope Francis offers his prayers for the victims of Friday’s terrorist attack on a concert hall in the Russian capital of Moscow, and invites everyone to pray for “martyred Ukraine” as the country faces heavy Russian bombardment of critical infrastructure.
“I assure my prayers for the victims of the vile terrorist attack carried out the other evening in Moscow.”
Pope Francis offered that assurance as he prayed the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square at the conclusion of Mass on Palm Sunday.
“May the Lord welcome them in His peace and comfort their families,” he added.
The Pope also prayed that God might instill peace in the hearts of all people.
“May He convert the hearts of those who plan, organise, and carry out these inhuman actions, which offend God, who commanded: ‘Thou shalt not kill’,” he said.
I assure my prayers for the victims of the vile terrorist attack carried out the other evening in Moscow
Pope Francis
At least 4 armed men entered the Crocus City concert hall in Moscow on Friday evening, opening fire and killing at least 133 people and injuring dozens others.
The attackers also set off explosive devices that set the venue ablaze and left it a smoldering ruin.
An affiliate of the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, a claim confirmed by US intelligence officials.
Russian authorities have arrested 11 people in connection with the terrorist attack, including the four gunmen.
In his Angelus address, Pope Francis also prayed for everyone suffering due to war, especially in “martyred Ukraine”.
He said “so many people are without electricity due to intense attacks against infrastructure, which, besides causing death and suffering, raise the risk of an even-greater humanitarian catastrophe.”
so many people are without electricity due to intense attacks against infrastructure, which, besides causing death and suffering, raise the risk of an even-greater humanitarian catastrophe
Please, let us not forget martyred Ukraine, and let us also think of Gaza which is suffering greatly, along with other places of war
Pope Francis
The Pope then invited Christians to enter Holy Week by entrusting our journey toward Easter to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“Let us learn from her to draw near to Jesus in these days of Holy Week, so that we may arrive at the joy of the Resurrection.”
Furthermore, the director of the Holy See press office said that Pope Francis has not accepted an invitation to travel to Moscow in June to meet with Vladimir Putin.
“A report on the website of Intelligence Online, a French journal, does not correspond to the truth,” Matteo Bruni told reporters on March 20.
A story on the website March 19 had said Ivan Soltanovsky, the Russian ambassador to the Holy See, invited the pope to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow in June, “an invitation that the pope accepted,” Intelligence Online had reported.
The journal said the pope, who repeatedly has been invited to visit Ukraine, would travel to Kyiv immediately after visiting Moscow.
Pope Francis has not accepted an invitation to travel to Moscow in June to meet with Vladimir Putin
After Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Pope Francis said he would be willing to accept the invitation of the Ukrainian government to visit, but only if he could visit Moscow as well.
The Vatican has repeatedly offered to act as a mediator between Ukraine and Russia, and last year Pope Francis sent his peace envoy for Ukraine, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, to Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and Beijing to meet with foreign leaders and advance peace talks on
Ukraine.
In early March, however, the pope caused consternation when segments of an interview were released in which he said Russia and Ukraine need to have the “courage of the white flag” to halt the fighting and negotiate.
The phrase “white flag” usually refers to surrendering, and Ukrainian leaders were outraged.
Pope Francis was not asking Ukraine to consider surrendering to Russia when he called for negotiations to end the war, but he was calling for both Russia and Ukraine to cease hostilities and engage in peace talks, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
At the end of his weekly general audience March 20, praying for peace in Ukraine and in the Holy Land, Pope Francis said, “War is always a defeat.”
“We must make every effort to discuss, to negotiate to end war,” he said. “Let’s pray for this.”
