On the 17th day of the war in Ukraine, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, repeated Pope Francis’ call for “an immediate ceasefire” in Ukraine.

“The people who come are not dead in a technical sense, but they have lost their lives. And they don’t have a new one yet, so they are terribly beaten, and terribly vulnerable.”

Sister Lucía departed from Manresa at 6 a.m. on March 4 and arrived in Romania the following evening. On the morning of March 6, she set out on the return journey to Spain, bringing six refugees with her.

“Faith can move mountains, not to mention a stupid war,” Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner whom Pope Francis sent to Ukraine, told journalists in Lviv.

Pope Francis called for a stop to the armed attacks in Ukraine, and for negotiations and good sense to prevail.

Praying for an end to the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis called for prayer and fasting for the people of Ukraine.

As Russian tanks and troops moved to attack Kyiv and explosions were heard across Ukraine’s capital city, Pope Francis spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this Saturday afternoon, Feb. 26.

In a visit with few if any precedents, Pope Francis met with the Russian ambassador to the Holy See this morning to express concerns about Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

“Jesus taught us that the diabolical senselessness of violence is answered with God's weapons, with prayer and fasting,” the pope said as the situation continued to deteriorate between Russia and Ukraine.

Addressing a symposium on the priesthood in the Vatican on Feb. 17, Pope Francis presented what he called the “four forms of closeness” that he considers fundamental to the life of a priest.