Ukrainian Franciscans present Pontiff with memento of war’s devastation
May 30, 2024
» Continue to this story on L'Osservatore Romano (Italian)
CWN Editor's Note: Father Benedict Sviderskyy, OFM, the superior of a Franciscan province in Ukraine, met with Pope Francis during his May 29 general audience and presented him with a painting that included photographs of the devastation caused by a Russian attack on Zhytomyr.
“The story of one of the many Ukrainian families who lost everything is told,” said the friar. “The photos show their home on the occasion of a Christmas party before the war and what remained of that building after the bombings: a pile of rubble and, indeed, the key to the house, a symbol of starting again.”
Father Raphael Makivskyy, OFM, rector of the Shrine of the Passion in Sharhorod, joined the town’s mayor in telling the Pope about an outdoor Via Crucis that will be officially blessed next month. Father Makivskyy said that the Via Crucis “has become since the beginning of the war a symbol of our suffering, of our willingness to forgive, and of our hope.”
The Pope, according to the Vatican newspaper, “blessed a small panel, symbol of this Via Crucis.”
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