Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner, spends Good Friday in Kyiv and prays at the site of a mass grave in nearby Borodyanka, expressing his pain at the sight of so many dead and such extensive destruction.
By Devin Watkins
KYIV, UKRAINE — Cardinal Konrad Krajewski visited the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv during Holy Week, bringing the closeness of Pope Francis to people suffering due to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
The Papal Almoner went on behalf of the Holy Father to spend the Paschal Triduum with the people of Ukraine.
He arrived in a Vatican-registered ambulance donated by the Pope to a cardiology hospital in Kyiv. On Holy Thursday, Cardinal Krajewski celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
On Good Friday, he joined the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, in leading the Way of the Cross in Borodyanka, an area northwest of Kyiv devastated by Russian troops.
His visit included a moment of prayer at the site of a mass grave in Borodyanka.
Tears and faith
Cardinal Krajewski spoke to Vatican News later on Friday after returning to Kyiv about his visit in the Pope’s name.
He described finding “so many dead, as well as a mass grave of at least 80 people buried without a name or surname.”
Faced with such horrors, he said, “tears fail to fall and words do not come.” Yet, thank God, he added, “that there is faith.”
“We are in Holy Week – today is Good Friday – when we can unite ourselves to the person of Jesus and go up with Him to the Cross,” he said.
Cardinal Krajewski recalled that Easter Sunday and the Resurrection of Christ will come soon.
“Perhaps He will explain everything in His love and change everything, even within us, especially this bitterness and suffering which we bear each day, but particularly on a day like today.”
