He called on leaders of the countries to prevent a nuclear war in Ukraine.
Pope Francis on Tuesday criticized the threat of nuclear disaster in Ukraine, and lamented that he sees peace 'trampled' in Europe.
The Pope was speaking at an ecumenical event organized by the Sant’Egidio Community, which involved a prayer for peace at the Colosseum in Rome.
In his address to several thousand people, delivered after various religious groups prayed separately, Francis decried today's "bleak scenario, where, sad to say, the plans of potent world leaders make no allowance for the just aspirations of peoples", Euronews reported.
Referring to the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the Pope said, "Today, in fact, something we dreaded and hoped never to hear of again is threatened outright: the use of atomic weapons, which even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki continued wrongly to be produced and tested."
"Today peace has been gravely violated, assaulted and trampled upon, and this in Europe, on the very continent that in the last century endured the horrors of two world wars," Francis said.
Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Shoigu discusses the Ukraine crisis with British Defense Minister Ben Wallace in a phone call, conveying concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine in form of a nuclear "Dirty Bomb".
Accordingly, experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will head to Kyiv and Zhovti Vody in the coming days after Russia's warnings about Ukraine preparing a "dirty bomb," a Russian envoy said.
This is while Washington and other Western countries have accused Russia of trying to use a threat of a device laced with nuclear material as a pretext for escalation in Ukraine.
MA/5617323/PR
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