On Tuesday night, Francisco attended the screening of the documentary “Freedom on Fire”, by director Evgeny Afineevsky, which tells the horrors of war since the Russian aggression on February 24, 2022. The event took place on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the “Revolution of Dignity”. The pope greeted and blessed those present, including a Jew from New Jersey who showed him a book with photos of hostages kidnapped by Hamas.
Mário Galgano – Vatican City
“I just want to go home, see my family… Yes, even my friends.” On the big screen, a child reads these words in the claustrophobic setting of the basement of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, as the side door opens at around 6:30 pm on Monday, the New Synod Hall in the Vatican opens to welcome Pope Francis. In a wheelchair, in the dark, in silence, the Pope sat in the last row and watched the screening of “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s fight for freedom”, the documentary by Russian but naturalized American filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky, who was About For two hours, the horrors that the Eastern European country has experienced since the start of Russian aggression on February 24, 2022 are told in live action.
“Let us pray for peace to come”
“A lot of suffering…” said the Pope casually at the end of the presentation, as everyone present stood up to applaud and turned towards the back row. “This film also shows us that wars are always a defeat. And we, who saw this cruelty, these people who defend their identity, who suffer so much, must be close. Close to so much suffering. And pray, pray for these people, pray for peace to come. This is how it should be,” said Francisco.
Immersed in horror
The entire time he was engrossed in the documentary, occasionally interrupted by a passerby shaking his hand or asking for a selfie. On the other hand, it is difficult to be distracted by the images and recordings, some of which were compiled in an amateurish way by the refugees and survivors themselves, and which immerse the viewer almost personally in the drama that the residents of Kherson, Sumy, Mariupol, Melitopol, Hostomel, Kharkiv, Kherson and Donbass region for two years.
The tenth anniversary of the Maidan Revolution
The film “Freedom in Flames”, which was shown at the Vatican in February, on the anniversary of the barbaric war, in the presence of the Pope, who also welcomed some of the film’s protagonists at the end, was shown again to the public on Tuesday. afternoon, November 21 presented. The date was not chosen by chance, because it was on this same day, ten years ago, that the “Revolution of Dignity” began, the uprising of the Ukrainian people on Maidan Square, fighting for their freedom. Two short films that preceded the documentary showed images and clips from the time: smoke bombs, streamers, pistol and rifle shots, flags, candles, people being dragged, men with crushed skulls, tanks, dead, injured. Men, women, the elderly, children, Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims, Buddhists, “all united to demand freedom”, such as the head of the Greek-Catholic Church, Svyatoslav Shevchuk, the now deceased Orthodox Archbishop Filaret and other representatives of the different religions in the film.
(Vatican news)