Pope Francis placed representatives of the aggressor country and the victim country side by side, combining the testimonies of Ukrainian and Russian teenagers.
In the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on Friday, April 7, the testimonies of Ukrainian and Russian teenagers were reunited, despite the fact that last year a similar initiative among women caused a wave of anger at Ukraine, Vatican News reports.
It is noted that people from lands wounded by bombs, rockets, gunfire or deadly hatred have previously shared their testimonies with Pope Francis – and these memories have become reflections that accompany the prayer of Way of the Cross this year.
Prayer theme: Voices of the world in times of war. In the tenth stop, which focuses on how Jesus’ clothes were torn, the compilers combined the testimonies of a Ukrainian and a Russian teenager.
The first tells how he fled from Mariupol with his family at night, deciding to go to Italy, where his grandmother was. At the border, I had to say goodbye to my father.
“When we arrived in Italy, I was sad. I felt skinned from everything: completely naked. I didn’t know the language and I had no friends. Grandma tried to make me feel lucky, but I didn’t do anything else , but only repeatedly I wanted to go home. Finally, my family decided to return to Ukraine,” he said.
Another man said: “I am a Russian person, and when I say this, I almost feel guilty, and at the same time, I do not understand why, and therefore I feel doubly. Peeled from happiness and dreams for in the future.”
The Russian remembered his older brother, who, a few days after his 18th birthday, went on a journey, and then a letter came announcing his death.
“Everyone told us that we should be proud, but at home there was only great sadness and suffering. This happened to father and grandfather, who left, and there was no news about them,” the man complained.
According to the Russian boy, a friend at school told him in his ear that there was a war going on, and he wrote a prayer for peace at home.
In turn, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See Andriy Yurash commented on the initiative of the Vatican.
The Ukrainian diplomat is angry: “The Russian man, especially, will talk about his killed brother and father and grandfather, who were lost in the war. But he will surely forget to mention that his relatives came in Ukraine to kill not only the father of the Ukrainian boy, but the whole family… and not the other way around!”.
Yurash also said that this year they broke the tradition of publishing the text of the Via Crucis Way of the Cross a few days before the event, and he learned the text of the Way of the Cross Via Crucis from the media.
It will be remembered that last year the Way of the Cross took place in Rome with the participation of a Ukrainian and a Russian woman. However, after a wave of anger that occurred a few days before the event, instead of the planned text, where the thesis about “brotherly people” should have been, it was proposed to pray silently.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.