Pope Francis denounced the brutality of the war in Ukraine during an Easter mass held at the Vatican on Saturday at St. Peter's Basilica, Voice of America reports..

The mass was attended by the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, who was detained by the Russian military last month and later released in a prisoner exchange..

Pope Francis departed from a prearranged text to mark the presence of Ivan Fedorov, his family and three Ukrainian parliamentarians at the Mass. Pope denounces 'darkness and cruelty of war'.

“We all pray for you and with you. We pray because there is so much suffering going on. We can only offer you our society, our prayers and say to you:

“Be of good cheer, we are with you,” Francis said..

At the end of the sermon he said: \! » in Ukrainian.

[see_also ids\u003d"

Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re replaced the pope as chief clergyman in a service that saw an Easter procession in near-total darkness up the central nave of Christendom's largest church.. The pope himself was unable to lead the service, presumably due to an exacerbation of sciatic neuralgia. Dad read his sermon sitting.