Pope prays for people slain in war, recalls Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr

Deborah Castellano Lubov

“In my hands I hold a rosary and a New Testament left by a soldier who died in the war. This young man was called Oleksandr – Alexander: 23 years old.”

Pope Francis shared the detail before concluding his general audience Wednesday at the Vatican, as he remembered the countless deaths in Russia's war in Ukraine.

“Olexander,” reflected the Pope, “read the New Testament and the Psalms, and he had emphasized in the Book of Psalms, Psalm 129: 'Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. ' “

This 23-year-old man, the Holy Father shared, “died in Avdiivka during the war.”

“He left a life behind him.”

“He left behind him a life,” the pope said, revealing that “it was his rosary and his New Testament, which he read and with which he prayed.”

The Holy Father invited the faithful present in St. Peter's Square to join him in observing a minute of silence, “thinking of this young man and so many others like him, who died in this madness of war.”

“War always destroys,” Pope Francis concluded. “Let us think of them and pray.”

This is the Pope's latest appeal for Ukraine, and follows his final appeal for the war-torn nation under attack since Russia's invasion in February 2022 during his speech. Urbi and orbi address to the faithful of the city of Rome and to the world on the occasion of Easter Sunday.

War in Ukraine