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February 26, 2024By Gina Christian, OSV News
(OSV News) -- A U.S. bishop is calling for peace in Ukraine and humanitarian aid for its people as Russia's full-scale invasion of that nation enters its third year.
"The magnitude of the suffering in the Ukrainian conflict continues to sear the conscience of the faithful," said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.
In a Feb. 23 statement, Bishop Zaidan pointed to the widespread damage inflicted by Russia's Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine, which continued attacks begun in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and the backing of military separatists in Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.
Bishop Zaidan cited in his statement statistics from a United Nations report placing the number of Ukrainian civilians killed and injured above 30,000.
The aggression has been declared a genocide in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. Ukraine has reported more than 126,037 war crimes committed by Russia to date in Ukraine since February 2022.
"Schools, hospitals, apartments, and basic infrastructure supplying power have been hit by missiles," said Bishop Zaidan. "In the face of such destruction and death, people are repeatedly displaced, insecure as to where to find safety."
"The Catholic Church, including many Catholic welfare organizations are trying to meet these enormous needs both within Ukraine and in other countries impacted by this war which has raged on for two full years," said Bishop Zaidan, adding that the USCCB's annual collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe "has been critical in providing much-needed aid to the region."
At the same time, he said, "Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative has greatly heightened global food security concerns, increasing food prices, and jeopardizing the health and lives of poor and vulnerable people dependent on food assistance for survival.
"I urge the U.S. government to do all that it can to provide much needed humanitarian assistance quickly," said Bishop Zaidan.
He also expressed concern about Russia's repressive actions against various religious communities in Ukraine, which have seen religious leaders arrested, tortured and killed, and more than 600 religious structures destroyed or turned into Russian military bases.
In December, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church revealed Russian authorities had banned the church and ordered its property confiscated in occupied portions of southern Ukraine. The Knights of Columbus and Caritas, the official humanitarian arm of the worldwide Catholic Church, were likewise banned.
Bishop Zaidan pointed to a Jan. 8 address by Pope Francis in which the pope warned against allowing "the persistence of a conflict that continues to metastasize, to the detriment of millions of persons."
"I join with our Holy Father in calling for an end to the violence in Ukraine and call on all the faithful and people of good will to join with the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, in setting aside February 24 as a solemn day of prayer, fasting for the end of the war and for peace to come to this war-torn land," said Bishop Zaidan.