Pope prays for Christmas truce in Ukraine
www.pravda.com.ua
Sun, 22 Dec 2024 16:49:38 +0200
Pope Francis called for a ceasefire in all war zones in his Sunday prayer on Christmas Eve, condemning the cruelty of bombing schools and hospitals in Ukraine and Gaza.
Source The Popes speech was quoted by the AP news agency, as reported by European Pravda Details The pontiff wished that weapons fall silent and the Christmas carols ring out.
Let us pray that at Christmas there will be a ceasefire on all war fronts, in Ukraine, in the Holy Land, throughout the Middle East and throughout the world, the Pope said.
Francis, as he often does, recalled Ukraines suffering, which continues to be plagued by attacks on cities that sometimes damage schools, hospitals, and churches.
He also expressed his pain when speaking about Gaza, of such cruelty, to the machinegunning of children, to the bombing of schools and hospitals.
Background Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn recently stepped up his efforts to establish a Christmas truce between Ukraine and Russia.
Ukraines Foreign Ministry called on Hungary to refrain from manipulating the war in Ukraine, in particular with regard to the proposal for a Christmas truce.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi stressed that there is no real Christmas truce on the table and that the alleged proposals are just a PR stunt by the Hungarian side.
Tensions between Kyiv and Budapest escalated after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn called Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin last week.
Afterwards, Orbn said that he had proposed a ceasefire and a largescale prisonerofwar swap between Kyiv and Moscow for Christmas but claimed that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had rejected the idea.
Kyiv emphasised that it first learned of the truce proposal from media reports, as the Hungarian side had not communicated it directly.
Earlier, President Zelenskyy criticised Orbns attempts to present himself as a mediator in the settlement of the RussoUkrainian war.
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