Shevchuk also decried the wording of a meditation that the Vatican had said would be read aloud as the nurses clutch the tall, lightweight cross. It reads, “We want our life back as before. Why all of this? What wrong did we do? Why have you forsaken us? Why have you forsaken our peoples?”
The words, combined with the cross-carrying gesture, “are incomprehensible and even offensive,” the Greek-Catholic prelate said. .
The meditation was scripted based on the experiences of the families of the Russian and Ukrainian women, whose families also plan to participate in the procession, the Vatican has said.
The women, interviewed on Italian state TV earlier in the week, have expressed satisfaction with their role in the procession and stressed their friendship.
The pope did not mention the controversy during his public audience on Wednesday. But he denounced “the armed aggression of these days” as “an outrage against God.”
Francis has pressed for an Easter cease-fire in Ukraine. Easter falls on April 17 for many Christians this year.
This article originally appeared on APNews.com.
