Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, has written a commentary on Pope Francis’s March 7 remarks on Ukraine.

By describing the invasion as a “war” and “not a military operation,” the Pope “refuted the fake news that would like to present what is happening with verbal subterfuge to mask the cruel reality of the facts,” said Tornielli. By calling for “respect for international law,” the Pope is pointing out that international law is “evidently violated by those who wanted to unleash this war of aggression.”

By imploring that “armed attacks cease,” the Pope “is clear that we are talking about a war of aggression, where there are those who attack and those who defend themselves,” Tornielli added. And the Pope’s praise of “journalists who are risking their lives to provide information” draws attention to a “new law in Russia that allows Russian and foreign citizens who spread ‘false information about the armed forces’ to be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.”