You need a deep connection to form a friendship, but the willingness to send a message to sustain it as a brutal fraternal conflict rages that has destroyed the lives of millions. This is the story of two friends, Irina, a Ukrainian woman, and a Russian Albina. Traditional Easter Week ceremony at the Colosseum in Rome on Good FridayThey carried the cross together at one of the stops representing the death of Jesus of Nazareth. an event organized by Vatican Criticism came to Pope Francis from Ukrainian representatives and Catholic media from various countries.
This protest It started with the announcement of the presence of the duo at the ceremony shortly after this week and finally took shape with the ceremony. decision of various catholic media conservatives – among others Radio Maria, Credo magazine and the Ukrainian branch of US television EWTN – not broadcasting the action on Friday as a form of protest. But they’re not the only ones complaining. So at the same time Andrii Yurash, Ambassador of Ukraine to the VaticanHe warned of “possible consequences” for the Pope’s gesture.
in the same line, Sviatoslav Svevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said it was an inappropriate idea.. Svevchuk, who belongs to a religious group that has recently become close to the Pope of Rome, added that the decision “enraged a large proportion of Ukrainians worldwide”. “Compromise movements are good, but details and circumstances cannot be ignored,” said Vitalii Kryvytsky, bishop of Kyiv-Zhitomir.
Mistake Vatican nuncio (ambassador) Visvaldas Kulbokas in Kiev opposed the decision. “Churches and religious organizations in Ukraine (between Russians and Ukrainians) want to work for reconciliation, but still they know that this can only be talked about when aggression ceases and Ukrainians are able to save not only their lives, but also their freedom, ”, argued Kulbokas.
Again, Vatican and Pope finally decide not to back down, and kept the original plan. And it wasn’t just them. The Italian branch of the Franciscan congregation took a similar decision at a virtual Easter event on Friday and included two Ukrainian women, one Russian and the other Ukrainian. Dnieperone of the major Ukrainian cities close to the front line fighting in the east of this Slavic country.
“He asked me for forgiveness, he was heartbroken” because of the war
Indeed, despite the controversy, Albina and Irina represent another tragedy of our time: the covid-19 epidemic. This is how the two met. It occurred in the palliative care wards of the Bio-Medical Campus of the University Polyclinic of Rome. Ukrainian Irina is a nurse and Russian Albina specializes in nursing. Even the war launched there by Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far not broken his will to maintain his friendship – publicly. They say it’s the opposite. Their refusal to continue hostilities in Ukraine strengthened their troops, as both have said on more than one occasion.
“My wish is for them to try to find a solution,” Albina said in a recent interview with RAI1, for example. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Palestinian, Israeli, Ukrainian or Russian. No child in the world should be woken up by a bomb explosion and no one deserves to live in a shelter. My heart is beating with them right now,” Irina added.
It hasn’t been easy for either of them. “I will never forget the moment when Albina began apologizing to me before I could comfort her,” she continued. “He feels guilty even though he told her it had nothing to do with it,” he said, adding that war was “not something we wanted.” The doubt is whether the message has arrived.