Despite fear in Ukraine, keep going, pope tells Cardinal Krajewski

(OSV News) -- The papal point man for charity, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, opened a soup kitchen in Fastiv, in Ukraine's Kyiv region, Dec. 23 and was heading east to Kharkiv to spend Christmas "in the city where Russian bombs fell first and the war started" on Feb. 24, 2022.

The prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity began his ninth trip to Ukraine on Dec. 18, driving a mobile hospital, which he donated to Caritas Ukraine in Lviv Dec. 21. After leaving a large medical camper, adapted to specific needs of a country where hospitals are often damaged or inaccessible, and six ultrasound machines in Lviv, he headed to Kyiv by train Dec. 22.

The journey aims to show solidarity with the war-torn country, "which the pope prays for every day," the cardinal said.

In Fastiv, 48 miles west of the Ukrainian capital, Cardinal Krajewski opened a soup kitchen for the poor Dec. 23.

"The war is taking its economic toll," Cardinal Krajewski told OSV News in a recorded message sent on Dec. 23. "The monthly retirement is $100 for many people. It's hard to make a living on such a sum. That's why the Dominican brothers built this soup kitchen so that they can feed the needy, but people can also take supplies home."

"Always when I'm opening a place like that I think of the Gospel when Jesus multiplied the bread and fed the 4,000," Cardinal Krajewski said. "Jesus told the disciples: Go and feed those people. We have so many things in the West, and we need to share, we need to feed the needy, because sharing with those in need is sharing with Jesus himself."

The Dominicans in Fastiv have been helping Ukrainians from the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion. They run a home for the elderly and sick, but also take care of orphans.

"I visited all of them and shared a traditional Polish 'oplatek,'" the Polish prelate said of a wafer that Poles share with each other at the Christmas vigil on Dec. 24.

"Then children from the local music school came and performed a Nativity play. It was a real joy to listen to their concert," Cardinal Krajewski said.

"After the concert I greeted the children in the name of the Holy Father and gave them each a giant teddy bear a donor from Poland donated," he told OSV News.

"Some of those children lost their fathers at war," he said.

As he was recording the message for OSV News, Pope Francis called him to ask how the Christmas mission was going, the cardinal recounted.

"I told him the trip with a mobile hospital was a true penance for me, an impatient driver, as the vehicle was hard to drive and it was impossible to go over 55 miles per hour. The Holy Father laughed that I could pray a lot -- and indeed the trip was so long that I reminded myself of every single prayer I knew since childhood," Cardinal Krajewski laughed.

But the joking mood was, in reality, a break from worrisome thoughts, Cardinal Krajewski said.

"I told the Holy Father about those days, about Lviv, Fastiv, and about where I'm going tomorrow -- to Kharkiv -- and that I'm simply afraid, as the drones targeting Ukrainian cities are unpredictable," he recalled.

"It is not clear at what point they appear in complete silence," the cardinal said of the commonly used deadly Russian weapon. "Next to the nunciature several blocks of flats were smashed, shelled probably a week ago. Everything is shattered, nothing is cleaned up yet, the whole neighborhood is closed," he said.

"With his call, the Holy Father showed that he cares, he is interested, he prays and blesses the trip. He said: Keep going, do what you have to do" despite fear, the cardinal concluded.

During a Dec. 20 Russian missile strike on Kyiv, St. Nicholas Catholic Church, a significant architectural monument of the Ukrainian capital, suffered damage.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down all five missiles and 40 UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, that Russia fired at around 7 a.m. Another 20 drones did not reach their targets, according to the command. Several embassies suffered in the recent attack.

"Let us pray for a ceasefire on all war fronts, in Ukraine, the Holy Land, in all the Middle East and the entire world, at Christmas," the pope said in his Dec. 22 Angelus prayer ahead of the Christmas week.

"Tormented Ukraine continues to be struck by attacks against the city, which at times damage schools, hospitals, and churches. May the weapons be silenced and Christmas carols resound!" the pope cried out.

"So much cruelty!" he underlined.