Xi Jinping, while meeting with Vlad last week, called for a cease-fire (code word for peace) in Ukraine. As Putin was standing right next to him and the whole thing was scripted, he was obviously on board.
And our Commander and Chief said...drum roll please...NO. Why, because ...err...he didn't have his afternoon nap?
I think the Pope would do a better job praying that our President and NATO find the divine inspiration to get their head out of their ass. Else the ass-kicking will continue.
Pope Francis, in Easter Message, Calls for Peace in Ukraine
Pontiff also prays for survivors of February’s earthquakes in Turkey and Syria
By Francis X. Rocca, WSJ
April 9, 2023 6:14 am ET
ROME—Pope Francis highlighted the war in Ukraine in his traditional Easter message on Sunday, calling for the international community to help end the fighting there.
The pope, who has frequently deplored the suffering of Ukrainians since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, followed his usual practice of not naming Russia as the aggressor but prayed for the wounded and bereaved and the return of prisoners on both sides.
Speaking from a loggia on the front of St. Peter’s Basilica to a crowd in the square below, where he had earlier presided over Mass, the pope delivered his annual Easter message “to the city [of Rome] and the world,” which as usual included a survey of wars and humanitarian crises around the globe.
Easter is the holiest day in the Christian calendar, and is when the faithful believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
Pope Francis on Sunday prayed to “the Risen Lord” to “help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia.”
Ukrainians, including government officials and church leaders, have criticized some of the Vatican’s public statements on the war for what they say is a suggestion of equivalence between the two sides.
On Friday, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, complained on Twitter about a Good Friday ceremony at Rome’s Colosseum that featured testimonies from a young Ukrainian and a young Russian lamenting the killing. The young Russian “forgot to mention: his relatives came in Ukraine to kill not just the father of the Ukrainian boy, but all his family, and not vice versa,” Mr. Yurash wrote.
The Vatican didn’t respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Pope Francis’ rhetoric on Ukraine has become more critical of Russia over the course of the war. Late last year, he compared the war to Stalin’s 1930s terror famine and the Nazi genocide of the Jews.
In his Easter message on Sunday, the pope also prayed for survivors of February’s earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, which killed more than 50,000 people, according to the United Nations.
The pope, who was hospitalized last week for bronchitis, participated in the usual Holy Week ceremonies except for the nighttime Good Friday ceremony, which he missed on account of cold weather.
On Sunday, a Vatican cardinal celebrated Mass at the altar instead of Pope Francis, who has been using a wheelchair and sometimes a cane since last May owing to a knee ailment.
Write to Francis X. Rocca at francis.rocca@wsj.com
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