The Pope explained he had received statistics on the number of deaths in Ukraine, calling it “terrible.”
Last month, the Wall Street Journal released information stating the number of fatalities reached one million people—both Ukrainian and Russian.
Ukrainian officials reported that more than 12,000 civilians
had been killed in the month of June alone.
Do not forget nations facing violence
In his appeal, Pope Francis reiterated that “war is a defeat from the very beginning” and that it “does not forgive.”
"Let us pray to the Lord for peace; may He give peace to all, to all of us," he said. "And let us not forget Myanmar; let us not forget Palestine, which is suffering inhumane attacks; let us not forget Israel, and let us not forget all nations at war."
The UN’s Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator reported that no food has entered Gaza since October 2, adding that food supplies are running low.
Pope Francis also lamented the massive financial outlay on arms manufacturing, which he said “yields the most profit today.”
This, he said, “is a statistic that should frighten us.”
The global arms trade was valued at just under 100 billion euros in 2021, according to the most recently available data.