ROME — Pope Francis called attention to the war in Ukraine during his visit to Kazakhstan on Wednesday, urging that nations never become inured to war.
“My thoughts turn to all the war-torn areas of our world, and particularly beloved Ukraine,” the pontiff said following the celebration of Mass in the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan. “May we never grow accustomed to war or resigned to its inevitability.”
In his words, the pope reiterated his appeal for dialogue as an alternative to armed conflict to resolve disputes.
“Let us come to the aid of those who suffer and insist that genuine efforts be made to achieve peace,” he urged. “What still needs to happen, and how many deaths will it still take, before conflict yields to dialogue for the good of people, nations and all humanity?”
“The one solution is peace and the only way to arrive at peace is through dialogue,” he asserted, while pointing to new outbreaks of tension in the Caucasus region.
“Let us continue to pray that, in these lands too, peaceful discussions and concord will prevail over disagreements,” he said.
Francis also repeated his condemnation of the arms race, which he has blamed for provoking wars around the globe.
“May our world learn how to build peace, not least by limiting the arms race and converting the enormous sums spent on war into concrete assistance to peoples,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the pope declared that God “guides us always in the way of peace, never that of war,” while insisting the armed conflict can never be justified by appealing to religious faith.
Pope Francis is greeted with flowers upon his arrival for a meeting with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians and pastoral workers in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Nur-Sultan on September 15, 2022. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)
“May we never justify violence,” he exhorted. “May we never allow the sacred to be exploited by the profane. The sacred must never be a prop for power, nor power a prop for the sacred!”
Let us unite our efforts “to ensure that the Almighty will never again be held hostage to the human thirst for power,” he said.
The pope is in Kazakhstan for a three-day visit to attend the seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and is scheduled to return to Rome Thursday evening.
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