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Pope Francis Is Sending Two High-Ranking Cardinals to War-Torn Ukraine

Currents News Staff

Pope Francis has made the decision to send two of his best men to Ukraine, which continues to be battered by the war. They leave this week, with a very clear mission.

“To serve the people, to help,” Pope Francis said, “Cardinal Krajewski, the Almoner, to bring aid to the needy, and Cardinal Czerny, interim Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.”

Armed with the Gospel and rosaries from the Holy Father, their objective is to bring some solace to the people. Cardinal Krajewski will cross into the country from Poland, his country of origin. This cardinal has shown, on other occasions, his determination to fight injustice.

He personally knows many of Rome’s homeless people, and even offered them refuge in a parish at the height of the pandemic. In 2019, he became known for illegally turning on the power in a building where immigrants, including children, were spending the winter.

Then there is Cardinal Czerny, who was born in the Czech Republic and migrated to Canada. For years, he has been in charge of the Migrants and Refugees section of the Dicastery he currently leads. He will enter Ukraine from Hungary.

They are two men of action, capable of bringing concrete solutions to poverty and the challenges of migration. Sending them is the Holy Father’s way of expressing his closeness to the Ukrainian people.

“The presence of the two cardinals there is the presence not only of the Pope,” the pontiff said, “but of all the Christian people who want to draw near and say, “War is madness! Stop, please! Look at this cruelty!”

The mayor of Kyiv has asked men and women religious to remain in Ukraine, to sustain those still in the capital with prayer. Sending two high-ranking cardinals to Ukraine is a gesture of solidarity but also a diplomatic move directed at Putin.

Catholic News Headlines for Friday, 3/4/22

The biggest nuclear plant in Europe — on fire. Church leaders are worried the invasion of Ukraine will not only be a humanitarian crisis but an ecological disaster.

New York City’s mayor officially ends school mask mandates and vaccine passports across the city.

The season of Lent is underway — the Bishop of Brooklyn has some advice for the next 40 days.

Bronx Parish Holds First Mass After Fire Rips Through Sacristy Last December

Currents News Staff

Rising from the ashes this Ash Wednesday was St. Helena’s parish in the Bronx. The parish held their first liturgy in the church after a six-alarm fire there. 

The normal Ash Wednesday traditions were also accompanied by a blessing of the church’s altar, shrines and pews. Back in December, flames ripped through St. Helena’s sacristy, causing extensive damage. 

Now that their church is up and running again, the Bronx parish isn’t slowing down. They are back to their full Mass schedule and are planning parish events once more.

 

Russia Seizes Control of Europe’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant

Currents News Staff

It’s been the most turbulent week Europe has seen since World War II. Refugees are flooding borders, mass evacuations are taking place while missiles and the threat of nuclear war looms in the background.

As Russian forces attacked Europe’s largest nuclear plant on Thursday, according to the U.S. United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the world was on alert.

“The world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night,” said Linda.

A fire at a nearby building has been extinguished and there doesn’t appear to be any radioactive leakage. The facility remains under Russian-control with plant managers “working at gunpoint.”

“The Kremlin should immediately cease all attacks around Ukrainian nuclear facilities and allow civilian personnel to do their work to assure the facilities safety,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

A new video shows the aftermath of a Russian strike to an apartment building north of the capital city of Kyiv and to the Southeast in Mariupol. There is no water and no power after Russian attacks.

Ukrainians in Odessa formed a human chain filling up sandbags to protect their city. Meanwhile, the head of NATO accused Russia of using widely banned “cluster bombs.”

“What we see is heinous,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, “It is a brutality. It is killing of civilians we haven’t seen since the second World War in europe.”

At home, the Biden Administration is disputing criticism from lawmakers that it’s not sharing battlefield intelligence fast enough. U.S. officials insist they are sharing intelligence with Ukraine at a “frenetic” pace.

“We have been providing a historic amount of security assistance,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

Ukrainians in Rome Are Gathering Supplies and Sending Help to Their Homeland

Currents News Staff

The Ukrainian community in Rome has spent all week loading trucks with food and medical supplies to send their country. They fill several a day.

“We are loading the fourth truck and hope to load a fifth today,” said Father Marco, rector of the Basilica of Santa Sofia in Rome. “We want everything we’ve collected to reach Ukraine as quickly as possible so the supplies can be distributed to the people who need them.”

They gather at the Basilica of Santa Sofia, the main church of the Ukrainian Catholic Community in Rome.  On Sundays, they pray and hold catechism classes but last week those classes were interrupted when hundreds of people arrived with donations.

“At one point, there were so many people that we had to stop our catechism classes,” said Alessia, a Ukrainian in Rome, “and we all got together, children, teachers and catechists to carry out this service.”

The basilica’s rector says he’s impressed with the response of Ukrainians and Italians who came together thanks to social media.

“They responded with great love for their country and their people,” said Father Marco. “They showed up to volunteer after seeing a very simple petition for help on social media. We weren’t expecting this response. We are very grateful to God and to the Ukrainian and Italian people for their solidarity and fraternity.”

The pontiff heard the call for help and made a donation of medical supplies to them. The Almoner of Papal Charities, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, delivered the Holy Father’s gift of syringes, bandages, and much more to the Basilica on Wednesday.

Alessia is a Ukrainian refugee. She’s been in Rome since 2014 when Russia invaded Crimea. But her family chose to stay in Ukraine. So, understandably, she’s been upset.

“The first two days I was extremely stressed,” Alessia said. “I was crying and almost fell into depression. Now it’s different because I don’t watch the news. I can’t bring myself to watch the news.”

She knows many cities in Ukraine have been reduced to rubble, but that’s not her biggest worry.

“This doesn’t matter,” said Alessia. “The people are what matters. I have many friends who have been underground for four days. It’s terrible because we don’t know how they’re doing. They don’t have Internet access and can’t contact us.”

St. Casimir: Journey with the Saints (3/4/22)

St. Casimir

Feast Day March 4th

“As a result nothing was more pleasant, nothing more desirable for him, than to share his belongings, and even to dedicate and give his entire self to Christ’s poor, to strangers, to the sick, to those in captivity and all who suffer.”

International Christian Relief Group Samaritan’s Purse Deploys Field Hospital to Ukraine

Currents News Staff

International Christian relief group, Samaritan’s Purse, is deploying a field hospital to Ukraine as Russia’s attack on the country continues. The group loaded the field hospital equipment onto a DC-8 plane in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“This is a man made disaster,” said VP of Operations Edward Graham. “We respond also to natural disasters around the world. But this is a man-made one. Man can’t fix this, and only God can fix this. It’s my hope and prayer that the people that may be watching or maybe listening to this, that they pray for the country of Ukraine, and we pray for peace and a peace that only God can bring about.

The group says its airlifting doctors, nurses and support staff to Poland. The hospital and staff will be taken to Ukraine from there. According to Samaritan’s Purse, it says the hospital will be able to treat up to 100 patients a day, with up to 30 in-patient beds, an operating room and an intensive care unit.

In addition, the group plans to send a cargo plane next week carrying equipment to set up two medical clinics. They will be able to provide minor trauma and general medical care for about 200 patients a day.

Dr. Elliott Tenpenny is one of the directors. He says they’re responding to the needs of the people in the war zone “in the name of Jesus Christ.”

“We’re compelled by our faith,” said Dr. Elliot, “and we’re called to respond to needs around the world with this type of capacity.”

Catholic News Headlines for Thursday, 3/3/22

The war in Ukraine intensifies and the number of casualties on both sides are climbing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the Vatican more than almost any other world leader – we’ll look back at the time he spent with Pope Francis.

During Lent, Catholics abstain from meat choosing seafood instead — but it comes at a price.