(OSV News): “I renew my appeal to put an end to the violence, to stop the destruction and to open hearts to dialogue and peace,” Pope Leo XIV said on September 6, appealing for peace in Ukraine after leading pilgrims in prayer at St. Peter’s Square during the Angelus.
Pope Leo prayed that the negotiation efforts led by the United States would finally bring an end to the deaths and devastation caused by the conflict, now in its fourth year.
“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 September 1 report by The Associated Press, a Russian 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.
My heart goes out to the suffering people, who for years have lived in anguish and fear
Pope Leo XIV
Commenting on the continued Russian strikes, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said that these attacks, which deliberately target civilians “at the most vulnerable moments of their lives,” were “state terrorism.”
In a video message on September 6, Archbishop Schevbchuk said, “The worst thing is that the enemy is using modern means, including unmanned systems, to attack residential areas at night,” adding that during the day, especially after September 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.”
The pope said, “My heart goes out to the suffering people, who for years have lived in anguish and fear.”
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 US envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, in Moscow on September 5 for talks with Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the following day with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
I renew my appeal to put an end to the violence, to stop the destruction and to open hearts to dialogue and peace
Pope Leo
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 September 6 press conference, Zelenskyy said he was seeking security guarantees from the United States to prepare defences 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 neighbour as yourself.”
Referencing the gospel reading from St. Matthew, the pope said Jesus suggests two ways of practicing mutual love, the first one being “capable of fraternal correction.”
He explained, “This is a delicate art, too often forgotten, that calls for frankness and a gradual approach. 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.”
Although it may seem simpler to complain or speak about others in their absence, the Pope noted that neither approach achieves anything and often results in “many situations paralysed.” He explained that, by contrast, the gospel shows us the freedom found through acts of charity. 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.”
Pope Leo said, “Without faith, each person might feel alone and become suspicious of others, seeing them as strangers and enemies. 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.”
