At a cemetery with war dead, the cardinal calls on the world to help Ukraine so that the “nonsense of war” stops

By Paulina Guzik

(OSV News) — In what he described as the most dramatic moment of his eight visits to Ukraine, papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski appealed from a cemetery in Ternopil for the world to help Ukraine immediately so that the “nonsense of war” would end.

Without mentioning Russia by name, he also said to those who start wars: “If only someone falls on their knees and asks for forgiveness, Jesus will not tire of our sins. He will forgive everything.”

Cardinal Krajewski arrived in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on June 25 and left for Ternopil at dawn on June 26, he said in a voice message sent to OSV News.

“I left for Ternopil at 4 a.m. to hand over the papal ambulance, and since the ambulance is a symbol of life, everyone cleared the way and I arrived there very early,” he said.

Since the local priest was still asleep, Cardinal Krajewski decided to visit a local cemetery.

“There is an area for soldiers, full of Ukrainian flags. So I started walking between the graves of young people, 20-, 23-, 35-year-olds. They were buried two days ago, a week ago,” he recalled.

“I am in Ukraine for the eighth time and it just shocked me. How is it possible that they have been fighting for two years while the whole world is watching, and yet they are still dying? Everyone is producing weapons, making money from these weapons, and yet Ukrainians are dying,” he explained in a dramatic tone in his message, noting that “a young pregnant woman came and stood there at her husband’s grave.”

“On my coat of arms is the inscription ‘Misericordia’, mercy, but I somehow could not understand this mercy today,” Cardinal Krajewski continued. “I was so moved in this cemetery, at dawn, in the middle of Ukraine.”

He compared Western countries’ aid to Ukraine to efforts to help a child drowning in a lake. “Everyone sees it and they decide to order a rescue boat to be delivered in a month,” he said. “They decide to order lifebuoys to be delivered in three days… to help Ukraine, but in a few months, to send fighter jets, but in a year.”

Later in the day, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, reflecting on the cemetery visit, said he “realized that my thoughts were very worldly. I thought, ‘I’m starting to think hostilely toward enemies.’ And then I realized that in June we sing the Litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a heart full of mercy, love, forgiveness, compassion, which is a scandal for today’s world because it is above justice.”

Cardinal Krajewski said that in today’s world, “we want to get rid of those who cause war. And the heart of Jesus is merciful. If only someone falls on his knees and asks for forgiveness, Jesus will not tire of our sins. He will forgive everything. So it was with the unrepentant thief when Jesus hung on the cross: ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.'”

Cardinal Krajewski was in Ukraine to donate an ambulance and medical supplies to a hospital in the Ternopil region. “Every day, many convoys arrive there carrying civilians and soldiers who have had to flee the border region with Russia, where the fighting is most intense,” the dicastery said in a statement on June 24.

On June 26, the ambulance was handed over to the hospital in the town of Zboriv, ​​“and everyone was very moved to accept the gift from Pope Francis,” the cardinal said.

During his trip, the cardinal plans to inaugurate the St. John Paul II Rehabilitation Center on behalf of Pope Francis “for the comprehensive physical and psychological rehabilitation of those who have suffered war trauma,” the statement said on June 24.

Cardinal Krajewski pointed out that the Vatican’s aid has been ongoing since the beginning of the war. In a country where there are nine-hour power outages every day, generators are needed. “Thanks to the power generators, jobs and food supplies for households have been secured. The Vatican has provided several trucks with generators. This is really crucial help,” he said.

“This is my eighth time in Ukraine, but this time I am most aware of the senselessness of the war,” Cardinal Krajewski said in a voice message to OSV News.

“The graves I visited in Ukraine today reminded me of what a person can do when he puts his own evil desires first, rather than God,” he said. “The world should really help Ukraine and not just produce more weapons.”