photo: vaticannews.va
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The idea of involving Ukrainian and Russian women in the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on Friday, April 15, is inappropriate and impossible. This was stated by the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Vatican Andrii Yurash on his Facebook page.
«The Embassy of Ukraine in the Vatican understands and shares the common concern of the Ukrainian and many other communities about the idea of bringing together Ukrainian and Russian women to carry the Cross during Friday’s Way of the Cross at the Colosseum. We are currently working on the issue, trying to explain the impossibility of its implementation and the expected consequences,» – Andrii Yurash says.
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Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, Representative of the Pope Francis in Ukraine, also says that he himself wouldn’t arrange the prayer in such a way. He added that it remains unclear why the Vatican decided to arrange reconciliation while the war still goes on, Catholic media Credo reports.
«I conveyed the reaction from Ukraine [to the Vatican],» – the Pope’s Representative said. He added that it is important to look at it from the side that «under the cross we are all sons and daughters of God: both the aggressor and the one being attacked. In this context, it is Russia and Ukraine.»
Still, he says, the reconciliation must come when aggression is stopped, and when Ukrainians will be able not only to save their lives, but also freedom. «Of course, we know that reconciliation occurs when the aggressor admits his guilt and apologizes,» – he added.
It will be recalled that the Vatican has decided that on Good Friday, the Ukrainian and Russian Irina and Albina, emigrants who work together in the hospice, will keep the cross in the Roman Colosseum during the 13th stand.
Translated by Vitalii Holich
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