U.S. & World News

Under the gaze of a painting of "Mary, Untier of Knots" and with dozens of diplomats from around the world, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, celebrated a Mass for peace in Ukraine.

Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill spoke via video conference about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the hopes for a peaceful solution, the Vatican said.

Asking God to forgive all people tempted by violence, Pope Francis prayed for an end to the war in Ukraine and the fratricidal killing of both combatants and civilians caught in the crossfire.

In a world still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and starting to feel the threat of nuclear war between Russia and Western nations, Pope Francis said that symbol of Noah and the great flood that wiped out humanity "is gaining ground in our subconscious."

Nearly 3 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine in the wake of Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of that nation, prompting the United Nations to declare the mass exodus the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the end of World War II.

The massive movement of women and children fleeing Russian bombardments in Eastern Ukraine has led hundreds of thousands of them to Lviv, less than 50 miles from the Polish border.

Russia's war on Ukraine is leaving cities in ruins and risks destroying relations among the Orthodox churches and between the Russian Orthodox Church and its ecumenical partners.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not invade Ukraine out of concern that NATO would encroach on his borders, but concern about "the disease of democracy that could spread like a virus, and that's deadly for oligarchies and authoritarian rulers," said the archbishop who serves as a "foreign minister" for the Ukrainian Catholic Church.