Pope Francis compared Russia's war against Ukraine to the “terrible Holodomor genocide,” the famine of Ukrainians by the Soviet authorities, which killed millions in 1932-1933. According to the New York Times, this was the pope's strongest condemnation of the Russian invasion to date. “Let us pray for peace in the world, and for an end to all conflicts, with a special thought for the terrible suffering of the dear and martyred people of Ukraine,” Pope Francis said.

Pope also asked people around the world to join Ukraine on Nov. 26 in commemorating “the terrible Holodomor genocide, the extermination by hunger of 1932-33 artificially caused by (Joseph) Stalin. Let us pray for the victims of this genocide and let us pray for all Ukrainians, the children, the women and the elderly, the babies who are today suffering the martyrdom of aggression,” he said.