Pope Francis denounced the "barbaric and sacrilegious" aggression towards Ukraine by Russia in his weekly Angelus prayer from the windows of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, according to AFP.

"The war is not devastating only the present but also the future of a society. I have read that from the beginning of the aggression on Ukraine, one in two children have been displaced from the country. This means destroying the future, causing dramatic trauma in the youngest and most innocent of us. Here is the bestiality of war, a barbaric and sacrilegious act," Pope Francis said.

He added that "the war cannot be something inevitable. We don't have to get used to war. Instead, we must convert today's indignation into tomorrow's commitment. Because, if we come out of this story as before, we will be all guilty in some way. Faced with the danger of self-destruction, humanity understands that the time has come to abolish the war, to erase it from human history before it is the war who erases humanity from history. "

"I pray for every political leader to reflect on this, to commit to this. And, looking at the martyred Ukraine, to understand that the situation worsens every day of war for everyone. Therefore I renew my appeal: it’s enough, stop, shut up the weapons, let’s work seriously for peace," the Pope lastly said.