(OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV once again appealed for peace in Ukraine and prayed that U.S.-led negotiation efforts would finally bring an end to the death and destruction caused by the conflict now in its fourth year.
“I renew my appeal to put an end to the violence, to stop the destruction and to open hearts to dialogue and peace,” the pope said Sept. 6 after leading pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in praying the Angelus.
“I hope that the efforts undertaken in these days to resume negotiations will bear concrete fruit and open space for diplomacy,” he said.
Russia stepped up its attacks against Ukraine, launching a series of devastating attacks at the end of August and into September. According to a Sept. 1 report by The Associated Press, a Russian military bombing of the capital city of Kyiv over a 12-hour period killed over a dozen people.
The attacks, according to AP, target civilian infrastructure and residential buildings. For its part, Ukrainian drone attacks over the summer targeted Russian retailers and oil refineries.
Shevchuk: Russia’s attacks ‘state terrorism’
Commenting on the continued Russian strikes, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said that such attacks that deliberately target civilians “at the most vulnerable moments of their lives” were “state terrorism.”
“The worst thing is that the enemy is using modern means, including unmanned systems, to attack residential areas at night,” he said in a video message published Sept. 6, adding that during the day, especially after Sept. 1, when the academic year began in Ukraine, Russia “deliberately attacks schools, universities, and dormitories.”
In his appeal, Pope Leo said he followed news of the violent attacks in Ukraine “with a sorrowful heart,” while lamenting the “deaths of innocent people.”
“My heart goes out to the suffering people, who for years have lived in anguish and fear,” he said.
Expressing his hope for diplomacy to resume, Pope Leo called on the faithful to “raise our prayers to the Lord, so that harmony may prevail in all the conflicts of the world.”
However, both countries temporarily halted strikes with the arrival of U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in Moscow Sept. 5 for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the following day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
While the talks with Putin were described as “constructive,” there was no concrete sign that either country was back on the negotiating table. At a Sept. 6 press conference, Zelenskyy said he was seeking security guarantees from the United States to prepare defenses for the coming winter months, AP reported.
The ‘delicate art’ of fraternal correction
In his talk before praying the Angelus, Pope Leo reflected on the day’s second reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, in which the apostle proclaims the commandments can be summed up in one saying: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Turning his attention to the Sunday Gospel reading from St. Matthew, the pope said Jesus suggests two ways of practicing mutual love, the first one being “capable of fraternal correction.”
“This is a delicate art, too often forgotten, that calls for frankness and a gradual approach,” he explained. “Speaking honestly with one another — first face to face, then, if necessary, with two or three others, and finally, when required, with the whole community — means facing reality and transforming problems and conflicts into opportunities for growth.”
While complaining or talking behind one’s back is easier, the pope said neither accomplishes anything and often leaves “many situations paralyzed.”
“The Gospel, instead, teaches us the freedom that comes through charity,” he said.
The second way of mutual love, he continued, is “coming to an agreement,” not just when there is a conflict but also when “asking God for some gift.”
“Without faith, each person might feel alone and become suspicious of others, seeing them as strangers and enemies,” Pope Leo said. “By grace, however, we are brothers and sisters who can live in harmony: meeting one another, forgiving one another and listening to one another in the Lord.”
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Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.
