“We are with the Pope and with all those who are doing their utmost to stop the horror of this war. We are with the Pope, who defends and proclaims peace. But how fragile is the desire for peace, if this desire does not become a task, a responsibility in everyday life, to build experiences that ensure education, work, charity, justice for our people, for every people ”.

It is the message that comes from Communion and Liberation of Cattolica. “Much has been said and much will be said about the causes and possible short- and long-term effects of this senseless invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army. As Christians, our gaze is first of all fixed on men, women, children, the elderly, sick and non self-sufficient people, whom man sees himself seems threatened by the nightmare of bombing, lack of food and basic necessities, of loss of loved ones, and who are forced to flee their homes, abandoning everything to the unknown. Will they find someone who wants to welcome them?

We cannot think of staying and watching events waiting for them to pass. And not only because this time the conflict is going to the heart of Europe, but because the consequences of this tragic war story have suffered for a long time. Already Aeschylus observed that the first victim of any war is the truth. The lie feeds hatred, creates enmity, opens deep furrows between Christians, brothers in the faith who fight each other without knowing why.

We feel very true at this moment the words of Pope Francis in Fratelli tutti: «Every war leaves the world worse than how it found it. War is a failure of politics and humanity, a shameful surrender, a defeat in the face of the forces of evil. Let’s not stop on theoretical touches, let’s make contact with the wounds, let’s touch the flesh of those who suffer the damage. […] Let’s consider the truth of these victims of violence, look at reality with their eyes and listen to their stories with an open heart. Thus recognizing the abyss of evil in the heart of war and the fact that they treat us as naïve because we have chosen peace will not disturb us ».

In the hour of anguish and torment, of uncertainty for the fate of our Ukrainian brothers, adhering to the fasting day requested by the Pope of the whole Church next Ash Wednesday (March 2, 2022), we invoke the intervention of the Spirit Holy through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the only “lively fountain” of hope.