“More than a month has gone by since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, of the beginning of this cruel and senseless war, that, like every war, represents a defeat for everyone, for every one of us,” Pope Francis said on March 27.

Describing war as a “barbarous and sacrilegious act,” the Pope said that “war should not be something that is inevitable. We should not accustom ourselves to war … Before the danger of self-destruction, may humanity understand that the moment has come to abolish war, to erase it from human history before it erases human history.”