Pope Francis remembered a Ukrainian soldier from Bakhmut who died at the front of Avdiivka.
At his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square in Rome he was holding a rosary and a New Testament wrapped in camouflage colors in his hands, personal belongings of the young man.

“This boy's name was Oleksandr: 23 years old. Oleksandr read the New Testament and the Psalms, and in the book of Psalms he had underlined Psalm 129: 'Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice'. And this 23-year-old boy died in the war. He lost the life that he would have had before him,”
Francis said. The Pope called on the faithful to observe a minute's silence in memory of "this boy and all others who, like him, died in this insane war."

The fallen soldier's belongings were presented to the Pope by the nun Lucía Caram, a contemplative Dominican of Argentine origin, on March 13, the 11th anniversary of the start of his pontificate. Since the beginning of the war she has been involved in Ukraine.

@ukrainejournal