Cardinal Krajewski’s anger and pain before the graves of Ukrainian war victims

By Vatican News

Emotion, despair and deep anger: “How can young people still die in war in 2024? Lord, that's enough! » » reacted Cardinal Konrad Krajewski as he experienced an intense moment Wednesday morning at the Ternopil cemetery, in western Ukraine.

The pontifical chaplain delivered an ambulance equipped as a mobile intensive care unit to the Zboriv district hospital, as well as various essential and life-saving medicines from the Vatican Pharmacy and the Gemelli Hospital Pharmacy.

The pope's gifts for the war-torn population are “a sign of love and hope,” said the cardinal, who is on his seventh visit to the country since the start of the conflict.

On the graves of young soldiers

The Polish cardinal arrived in Lviv on Tuesday and in Ternopil early on Wednesday. “I arrived in Ternopil very early,” Krajewski said. “The priest was still sleeping and, not wanting to wake him, I went to the nearby cemetery where there was a section for newly buried soldiers. Young people, so many young people; under the crosses were their photos: 20-23- 25 years… I was deeply touched and also angry: how is it possible that young people are still dying in war in 2024 Lord, enough is enough, the world produces weapons, everyone benefits from them and these! young people lose their lives.

Mercy

This pain intensified when the cardinal saw a young woman arrive: “She was standing not far from me, in front of her husband's grave, she was pregnant. My coat of arms bears the word: mercy… But today I fought with mercy. Why are they still shooting? Why do they kill? Mercy, I know, is a scandal that surpasses justice and is the second name of God, but today I had difficulty applying this word, I was very angry in the cemetery. Ukraine. Then I remembered the words of the Litany of the Sacred Heart, and I thought that I could not judge by the standards of the world, and I calmed down.

“We humans,” added the cardinal, “are capable of doing extraordinary things in the world, but also terrible, merciless things, and this has been going on for more than two years in Ukraine.”

Inauguration of the “John Paul II” Rehabilitation Center

In addition to delivering the ambulance, Cardinal Krajewski inaugurated, together with local bishops, the “Saint John Paul II” rehabilitation center in the Roman Catholic diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyy.

The center offers comprehensive physical and psychological rehabilitation to people who have suffered war trauma.

“Soldiers and the families of those who return but are broken, come here, unable to live within their families and in need of care,” the chaplain told Vatican media.

“By opening this center, I remembered a lesson from John Paul II: my friend is the person thanks to whom I am better. This establishment aims to be the friend of those who suffer, of those who are broken, helping them through psychologists and psychiatrists to get their lives back.”

The Pope's Embrace

Cardinal Krajewski will return to Lviv, stopping along the way to visit various communities “to be with the people, to give them a hug, a sign of hope from the Holy Father, to tell them that he is praying for them at each audience and Angelus”, may he not forget them and may he stand near them. »

“Even the medicines brought here are a sign of love and hope,” underlined the cardinal, who recalled that since the start of the conflict in February 2022, 240 trucks filled with medicine, food and clothing have been sent from Rome.

“The situation here remains terrible; there is shooting and the sound of sirens… But the good side of people who continually help and support those who have been suffering for many months is also tangible.”