Originally published at The Crux
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Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe recently concluded a two-week tour of war-torn Ukraine, where he encountered enormous courage and tremendous witness among the people with whom he visited.
“It was inspiring to see so many joyful volunteers and the way they care for children and involve local people in their efforts to serve the people of God,” Radcliffe told Vatican News in an exclusive interview with the official media outlet of the Holy See late last week.
Radcliffe was speaking specifically of his visit to St. Martin’s Mission in Fastiv, a city roughly 40 miles southwest of the capital, Kyiv.
Radcliffe also visited the front-line city of Kherson in the east of Ukraine, which invading Russian forces overran in the early days of the war, and which faces daily shelling.
“Kherson,” Radcliffe told Vatican News, “was, in many ways, the most moving place,” for him. “There, you can see how war destroys community life,” he said.
“Only a few elderly people remain,” the Dominican cardinal said.
One purpose of Radcliffe’s tour was to visit communities of his Dominican order and the local Churches.
“Yet it was also there,” – in Kherson – Radcliffe said, “that we encountered great courage – people
