Pope Francis condemned the cruelty of the war in Ukraine on Saturday at an Easter vigil Mass he attended but at which he did not preside, presumably because of leg pain that has forced him to curtail activities.
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The Mass was attended by Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol, who was detained by Russian forces last month and later freed in a prisoner exchange.
The pope departed from his prepared text to acknowledge the presence of Fedorov, his family and three Ukrainian parliamentarians sitting in the front.
He spoke of the "darkness of war, of cruelty."
"All of us pray for you and with you. We pray because there is so much suffering. We can only give you our company, our prayers and say to you 'courage, we accompany you,'" Francis said.
He ended by saying "Christ is risen" in Ukrainian.
