The Vatican, too, is collecting aid for Ukraine.
Newsroom (11/03/2022 10:00, Gaudium Press) Due to the engagement in the Spiritual Exercises of the Pope and the Roman Curia, there was no General Audience on Wednesday of this week. The Exercises began last Sunday and will last until next Friday, 11 March. Accordingly, the Pontiff’s appointments have been suspended for this week.
Throughout these retreats, each participant is recollected “in a personal way”.
At a time when the whole world is following mainly the developments in Ukraine, people are genuinely interested in what is happening there, but they also remain interested in the activities of the Vatican.
The work of the Pontifical Almhouse
Since last Monday, donations, medicines, clothes, and food have been collected to be sent to Ukraine. On a beautiful note, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sent his donation from the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery. The initiative for Ukraine is coordinated by the Apostolic Almshouse.
Speaking of the wider picture, Polish Cardinal Krajewski is already in Lviv, Ukraine. “I am on the outskirts of Lviv, and for security reasons we will not say where,” the cardinal said. He announced good news: all the aid coming from all over the world is reaching its destinations “despite the bombardments”.
The cardinal also noted that refugees continuously arrive from the eastern part of Kiev, the capital, and most are women with children. Lviv now has “half a million extra inhabitants”. Any available square metre is a temporary accommodation for refugees.
“Where there is a small space, it is occupied by refugees who pray, who have hope, who are truly grateful to the European community that brings them so many donations, that is close to them, that prays for them.” The tragedy, however, has produced some fruits, Cardinal Krajewski stresses: “Before this, they had never felt so united: now, they already feel like they are a part of Europe, and through these humanitarian gestures they are an integral part of it”.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
