Catholic head Pope Francis at the conclusion of his weekly General Audience, asked the faithful “to pray for peace in Ukraine, now and throughout this day.”
The Catholic head Pope Francis in a statement released by the Vatica Press on Wednesday 26th January 2022, called for an international day of prayer for peace to be held on 26 January, as Russia amasses troops on along its border with Ukraine.
The Pope asked the Lord to “grant that the country may grow in the spirit of brotherhood and that all hurts, fears and divisions will be overcome.”
He then urged that today’s prayers and supplications rise up to heaven and “touch the minds and hearts of world leaders, so that dialogue may prevail and the common good be placed ahead of partisan interests.”
Finally, the Pope asked that our prayer for peace be made with the words of the Our Father, explaining that “it is the prayer of sons and daughters to the one Father, the prayer that makes us brothers and sisters, the prayer of children who plead for reconciliation and concord.”
Prayers for Ukraine come as the US and other world leaders continue to accuse Russia of preparing a military invasion in Ukraine, an accusation that Russian President Vladimir Putin denies.
Also on the Catholic head Pope Francis said Wednesday that he is suffering from an inflamed ligament in his right knee that makes walking and going up and down stairs painful.
According to the report by The Associated Press, the Catholic head Pope Francis told his weekly general audience that he had been informed that the inflammation usually only afflicts older people.
“I don’t know why it happened to me,” the 85-year-old pope quipped, drawing applause from the crowd.
The Catholic head Pope Francis, who has long suffered from sciatica nerve pain that makes him walk with a pronounced limp, cited the new knee pain in explaining why he wouldn’t go down the steps of the Vatican audience hall to greet the pilgrims in the crowd. Instead, a handful of guests were brought up to the stage.
Francis had mentioned the leg pain last week in explaining that he would remain seated during a different audience. Over the years, he has apologized when he has missed liturgies or had to sit down during events that would otherwise require him to stand.
The Argentine Jesuit enjoys generally good health, though he had 33 centimetres (13 inches) of his large intestine removed last July. Francis also had a part of one lung removed when he was a young man after a respiratory infection.