By Eileen Jevis
Staff writer
A year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Catholic News Service reports, Pope Francis asked, “Can the Lord forgive so many crimes and so much violence? He is the God of peace.”
At the end of his weekly general audience Feb. 22 and with a group of Ukrainian parliamentarians seated in the front row, CNS says, the pope noted that Feb. 24 would mark “one year since the invasion of Ukraine, a year since this absurd and cruel war — a sad anniversary. The record of deaths, injuries, refugees and displaced people, destruction and economic and social damage speaks for itself,” he said.
At every general audience and public recitation of the Angelus prayer for the past year, Pope Francis has asked people to join him in praying for peace and in offering concrete assistance to the millions of Ukrainians who have sought safety abroad and the millions of others displaced within Ukraine or struggling to survive because of the fighting.
In Syracuse, Bishop Douglas J. Lucia joined Bishop Paul Patrick Chomnycky, Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford, Conn., at a Mass marking the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine. The Mass was held on Feb. 26 at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church on the city’s westside.
“I am deeply moved to have been asked by the parishioners and clergy of St. John the Baptist Church to make a pastoral visit in conjunction with the pastoral visit of their own bishop, Bishop Paul Chomnycky,” said Bishop Lucia. “It was an honor for me to concelebrate the Divine Liturgy with Bishop Chomnycky, especially on such a solemn occasion as we pray for peace in Ukraine on the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of its sovereign borders,” he said.
“May Our Lady, Protector of Ukraine, pray for and continue to watch over our sisters and brothers! Slava isusu khrystu/Glory to Jesus Christ,” added Bishop Lucia.
Bishop Chomnycky thanked Bishop Lucia for joining him, the clergy and the congregation at Mass. “We thank our dear guests who have come here today to share in our prayers — not only in prayer for the first Sunday of Lent, but to share in our prayers for Ukraine as we commemorate the first anniversary of the Russian invasion on Ukraine,” said Bishop Chomnycky. “We are grateful for all the support we have received from our American brothers and sisters; the members of the hierarchy of priests and the faithful of the Roman Catholic Church who have stood with us this past year. You have helped us in prayer, humanitarian aid and in solidarity. We know that with good, solid, faithful friends like these, the end [of the war] will come soon, and victory will be ours.”
