Asian Catholics pray for peace, express solidarity with Ukrainians

Churches in Asia have urged Russia to end the violence in Ukraine, saying peace is the only way to the future of humanity. 

"The world stands at an existential crossroads," said Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences. 

"The massive attacks on Ukraine and the impending threat of use of weapons of mass destruction have brought the world to the threshold of self-annihilation. The heart-wrenching scenes of Ukraine attacks have shocked the world", he said. 

Cardinal Bo had expressed concern about the frightening possibility of the "nightmare scenario of a global nuclear holocaust" in the March 4 statement. 

In that statement, Cardinal Bo urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to choose peaceful means and dialogue in the United Nations instead of believing in “the power of violence to solve world problems.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its 12th day March 7 with hundreds of civilians killed, thousands wounded and more than 1.5 million people, including women and children, pouring into neighboring Poland, Romania, and Moldova as refugees.

International media reports people surviving without safe drinking water because of damage to water system infrastructure and the country is running low on critical medical supplies due to Russia’s multi-pronged offensive across Ukraine.

Half a million children have already fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, the UNICEF, said March 3. The UN children's agency added that it needed at least $276 million for its programs inside Ukraine and an additional $73 million to assist children who have sought shelter in neighboring countries.

An obligation to pray for peace 

Church leaders across Asia -- where Christians are a minority except in two countries of the Philippines and Timor Leste -- have expressed closeness to Ukrainians and called for an end to the war.

The war in Ukraine is a "surrender to the logic of conflict and violence" and marks "the failure of all political and diplomatic attempts to avoid conflict,” said Lebanese Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, the Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, on behalf of the Maronite bishops.

The Maronite bishops said they pray for all the victims of the war and for the recovery of the wounded; for an end to the wars and outbreak of conflicts scattered in the various regions of the world, "especially in the Middle East" to be heard.  

Bishop Adelio Dell'Oro of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, a country in Central Asia that had lived through the harsh anti-Catholic persecution of the Soviet era, said: "Faced with what is happening in Ukraine, I believe that the obligation of each of us must be to offer our neighbor a perspective that is not political. As Christians we need to understand what unites us: certainly not nationality, because we are different, but Jesus Christ who is among us unites us.”

People in Ukraine are also "our brothers and sisters"

Churches of all denominations in India also urged the faithful to pray for people suffering due to the war in Ukraine while calling for an unconditional ceasefire.

The joint call came from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, National Council of Churches of India, (the body of Protestant and Orthodox churches) and the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

“Moved by the pain and suffering of the people of Ukraine caused by war, we join world leaders and the leadership of our respective global and regional communions in calling for an unconditional ceasefire,” they said in a joint statement. 

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, and a member of Pope Francis' council of cardinals, pointed out that “The people in Ukraine are also our brothers and sisters… We can imagine the difficulties they are having… Let’s pray therefore for peace.” 

Indian Archbishop Felix Machado of Vasai also expressed his closeness to the suffering people of Ukraine.  “In today's world, war cannot be contained to one region. Our hearts are with those who are suffering, there is so much suffering and it will have consequences for all of us. May the Lord have mercy on us all. "

In Myanmar, where an oppressive military junta continues to crush the people, a Catholic bishop has invited people to pray and fast during Lent for peace in Ukraine and in his own country. 

They are brothers and sisters, for whom we must urgently open humanitarian corridors. They must be welcomed,” Bishop Alexander Pyone Cho of Pyay said in a pastoral letter, referring to Ukrainians.  

“May the weapons fall silent. God is with the peacemakers, not with those who use violence. It is the people who are the real victims, who pay for the folly of war with their own skin.”  

The power of earnest prayers

In the Philippines, Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines called for prayers that the Lord “move the consciences of the Russian people” so that they themselves take the “necessary steps in order to pressure their government to stop the war it has started”.  

“Nobody is happy about war except those in the arms industries who make huge profits and stand to benefit from the disputes among nations,” he said in a pastoral letter.  

“The Lord Himself taught us that there is no other way to combat the enticements of the devil, especially among those who are obsessed with power, wealth and fame, other than prayer, fasting and acts of charity,” he said.

In South Korea, Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick of Seoul sent a message of solidarity on behalf of local Catholics to the Church of Ukraine together with emergency cash aid to help the elderly and children in shelters.  

He said he was moved by a video of small children trembling with fear and cold in the icy subway. “It hurts my heart to see the reality of war,” he said, urging prayers that “the weapons fall silent”.

In Hong Kong, Catholic Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan in a statement, said that manipulation of political powers and military maneuvers are “shattering the hope of Ukrainians for peace and stability in their homeland” calling for “the power of earnest prayers en masse” to “achieve what is beyond human imagination.”

In Japan, Archbishop Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan called on Russia’s leaders to halt the invasion of Ukraine and walk the path of establishing peace through dialogue.

 “Many lives are now at risk. It is our duty as children of God to protect God’s gift of life,” he said in a statement expressing concern that a major world power’s decision to invade an independent country not only puts life into crisis but will also have a tremendous negative impact on the future world order. 

Bishop Bernard Taiji Katsuya of Sapporo, chairman of the Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace, recalled the words of John Paul II in 1981 at the Hiroshima memorial: “Humanity is not destined for self-destruction. Differences in ideologies, aspirations and needs can and must be ironed out and resolved by means other than war and violence.”