Pope calls on Ukrainian youth to "forgive their enemies"
Pope Francis has called on Ukrainian youth to remember their heroes and forgive their enemies and "resist the instinct to respond to a punch with another punch."
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by "Voice of America" with reference to Vatican News.
It is noted that Pope Francis took part in a videoconference with 250 young Ukrainians from Kyiv and various cities in Europe and America, which was organised on Saturday by Apostolic Nuncio Visvaldas Kulbokas and Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Kyiv.
The Pontiff answered questions from young Ukrainians and called on them to forgive despite the challenges they face as their country continues to be devastated by war.
"Every young person has a mission. In difficult times, young people must carry forward ‘the spirit of the homeland.’ Your homeland is wounded by war, but love it. Loving one’s homeland is a beautiful thing."
The Pope stressed that dialogue was an important means of building peace, but also acknowledged that it was not always possible due to the "stubbornness of some".
When asked about enemy bullets and missiles and the genocide of people, the Pope replied that war "always destroys" and added that:
"The remedy is dialogue: always, among ourselves, even with those who oppose us. Please, never grow tired of dialogue. Peace is built through dialogue. It is true that sometimes dialogue is impossible due to the stubbornness of some, but we must always make the effort."
