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Pope Francis I prays for return of reconciliation, fraternity to Ukraine

In the same prayer, Francis I recalled the numerous victims of a landslide in Afghanistan

VATICAN CITY, May 04 /ITAR-TASS/. Pope Francis I on Sunday called on the congregation of the Roman Catholic Church to put faith in the Virgin Mary while fostering the willingness for normalization in Ukraine where tensions are running unabated.

As he addressed the dozens of thousands of believers on St Peter's Square from the window of the Apostolic Palace, he said that the situation in Ukraine was extremely difficult and that he was praying together with the lay for the sacrifices, which had been made in the previous few days, and was asking the Lord to fill the hearts of all people with reconciliatory and brotherly feelings.

In the same prayer, Francis I recalled the numerous victims of a landslide in Afghanistan.

Francis I visited the St Stanislaus's Church Sunday morning to join 20,000 believers from Poland in a thanksgiving mass over a recent canonization of Pole John Paul II.

He said the mass marked the first stage of his further pilgrimage to Poland.

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Ukraine crisis Ukraine Eastern Ukraine

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