Brussels, Belgium, Apr 13, 2022 / 08:47 am
European church leaders appealed this week to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine to observe an Easter ceasefire.
The letter dated April 11 urged Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to declare a halt to fighting from midnight on April 17 until April 24.
The letter was signed by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), and the Rev. Christian Krieger, president of the Conference of European Churches (CEC).
They said that they were echoing a call by Pope Francis on Palm Sunday for an Easter truce in Ukraine.