Franciscan Media

Russo-Ukrainian War

U.S. Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton, right, poses with Father Bohdan Prakh, former president of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, at a military cemetery in Lviv. While in Lviv, Bishop Monforton spoke with family members who have lost loved ones during the war. The bishop, former head of the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, traveled to the war-torn nation on a personal visit of solidarity Oct. 18-22, 2023. Bishop Monforton officially began his ministry as the newest auxiliary bishop of the Detroit Archdiocese Nov. 7. (OSV News photo/courtesy Ukrainian Orthodox Patriarchate via Detroit Catholic) Editors: best quality available.

Bishop Monforton visits war victims in Ukraine to show US church’s solidarity

November 9, 2023

As Detroit’s newest auxiliary bishop prepared to move from his home in Steubenville, Ohio, back to his native Archdiocese of Detroit, he found himself thousands of miles from both places in mid-October: Ukraine.

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Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy, speaks during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, in this Feb. 26, 2022, file photo. (CNS photo/Courtesy The Presidential Office of Ukraine)

Responding to Zelenskyy adviser, Vatican bank denies Russian investments

September 12, 2023
After an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that a financial relationship exists between the Vatican and Moscow, the Vatican bank said Sept. 9 that it "does not receive nor invest money from Russia."
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People attend a 'Stop Genocide of Ukraine People' rally and protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Times Square in New York City April 9, 2022. U.S. Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak has called for renewed prayer, advocacy in support of Ukraine after recently released report finds Russia has breached all terms of 1948 Genocide Convention in its invasion of that nation. (OSV News photo/Jeenah Moon, Reuters)

Genocide report on Ukraine ‘worst news possible,’ says archbishop

August 18, 2023
A new report on Russian atrocities in Ukraine is both "the worst possible news" and "welcome," a Ukrainian Catholic archbishop told OSV News.
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A young woman and a priest from Ukraine give Pope Francis shards from their war-torn country during a private meeting Aug. 3, 2023, at the Vatican nunciature in Lisbon, Portugal. The Vatican said the pope spent half an hour with a group of Ukrainian pilgrims attending World Youth Day, listening to their stories and praying for peace. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope meets WYD pilgrims from Ukraine

August 4, 2023
Fifteen World Youth Day pilgrims from Ukraine, most of whom had lost a father or other close relative in the war, had a private meeting with Pope Francis Aug. 3.
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A rosary is pictured hanging from a machine gun in an undated file photo as Ukrainian soldiers stand at their positions near the Ukrainian town of Pervomaysk. Dorian Kernytsky, a Philadelphia-area Ukrainian Catholic, has been making hundreds of rugged, stainless steel rosaries for troops in Ukraine, hoping to provide solace amid the horrors of the current war with Russia. (OSV News photo/Gleb Garanich, Reuters)

Biden discusses war, humanitarian concerns in Ukraine with papal envoy

July 19, 2023
President Joe Biden met with Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Pope Francis' special envoy to seek a peaceful resolution to the ongoing war in Ukraine on July 18.
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A Ukrainian soldier picks up unexploded parts of a cluster bomb left after Russia's invasion near the village of Motyzhyn, Ukraine, April 10, 2022. In a CNN interview July 9, 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden defended what he called a "very difficult decision" to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of that country, weapons the Vatican opposes. (OSV News photo/Mykola Tymchenko, Reuters)

US to Provide Ukraine Cluster Munitions Opposed by the Church As ‘Inhumane’

July 17, 2023
President Joe Biden defended what he called a “very difficult decision” to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion of that country, weapons the Vatican opposes.
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Ukraine’s military chaplains ‘ready to heal the wounds of war’ 

July 12, 2023
KYIV, Ukraine (OSV News) — Ukrainian military chaplains told OSV News they’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their troops across a long front line, while readying themselves for a post-war ministry of healing throughout their nation. “We’re in our positions, and we’re ...
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