Pope Leo sends aid to Ukraine for Holy Family Sunday

By Vatican News

Three lorries carrying one hundred thousand food packets that, with a little bit of water, become energy-rich soups with chicken and vegetables: A “small gesture” from Pope Leo XIV that offers vital relief for Ukrainian families who, on the occasion of Holy Family Sunday in Nazareth on 28 December, will receive humanitarian aid from the Vatican.

Help for those who follow ‘the painful path of exile’

Pope Leo XIV's gift, as Papal Almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski told the Vatican media, is a gesture towards families who, like the family of Nazareth, “follow the ‘via dolorosa’ of exile in search of refuge,” experiencing “the dramatic condition of refugees, marked by fear, hardship and uncertainty.”

It is a gesture, the cardinal continued, that shows how God, “by being born into such a family, desires to always be where human beings are in danger, where they suffer, where they flee, where they experience rejection and abandonment.’

Closeness to families who suffer

The cardinal also noted that, even before Christmas, through the Office of Papal Charities and the Nunciatures, the Holy Father sent financial aid to various countries.

For Ukraine, before Christmas Eve, three lorries full of humanitarian aid sent by the Korean company Samyang Foods arrived at the Vatican and were then diverted to the war zones most affected by bombing, “where there is no electricity, no water, and no heating.”

Cardinal Krajewski pointed out that Pope Leo “not only prays for peace, but wants to be present in the families who are suffering.”