Ukraine upset by Vatican inviting Russian to carry cross

By FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — A close associate of Pope Francis is defending the Vatican’s decision to have a Russian woman and a Ukrainian woman carry the cross together during a Good Friday procession in Rome. Both the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See and the archbishop of Kyiv have blasted the choice, given Russia’s invasion and war in Ukraine. A Jesuit priest who is close to Francis defended the pairing, saying the pope “is pastor, not a politician.” The women are nurses who work together at a Rome hospital. The pope didn’t mention the controversy during his public audience on Wednesday. But he denounced “the armed aggression of these days” as “an outrage against God.”