Pope calls for Easter truce in Ukraine

"Let the weapons be put down!" Pope Francis implored at the Angelus prayer, recited in St. Peter's Square at the end of the Palm Sunday Mass on April 10, 2022. Calling for an Easter truce in Ukraine during Holy Week, which begins this Sunday, the pontiff asked that it be used "not to provide more weapons and pick up the combat again" but "to achieve peace through real negotiation."

Christ, Pope Francis insisted, went to the cross to free humanity from "the dominion of evil" and died "so that life, love and peace might reign." Therefore, Easter must be the day to celebrate the victory of "the Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death – over sin and death – not over someone and against someone else.," he continued.

Continuing his plea for an Easter truce in Ukraine, Pope Francis criticized the continuation of "a war whose end is not in sight, a war that daily places before our eyes heinous massacres and atrocious cruelty committed against defenseless civilians." "what victory is there in planting a flag on a pile of rubble?" he said, urging the authorities concerned to be prepared to make "some sacrifice for the good of the people."

Finally, he entrusted this cause to the intercession of the Virgin Mary. At the end of the prayer, recited in St. Peter's Square in the presence of more than 20,000 people, the Argentinean pope took a ride in the popemobile in St. Peter's Square for the first time in more than two years.