Vatican City, Jul 6, 2019 / 09:45 am
One day following his private audience with Vladimir Putin, Pope Francis met Friday with leaders of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, encouraging them to persevere in hope and prayer amid the conflict in Donbas.
"Ukraine has been living for a long time a difficult and delicate situation, for over five years wounded by a conflict that many call 'hybrid', composed as it is by war actions where those responsible are camouflaged," Pope Francis said July 5 in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.
The pope said that "the weakest and the smallest pay the highest price" in the conflict, which he said is "aggravated by propaganda falsifications and various types of manipulation, including the attempt to involve the religious aspect."
Pope Francis told Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, the members of the Permanent Synod, and the Metropolitans in the meeting to have prayer and the spiritual life as their first priority, not worldly concerns.