Pope Francis visited Ukrainian children being treated at the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital in Rome on Saturday.
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Smiling, the pope held out his hand to them, crossing a department of the establishment, where 19 Ukrainian children are currently hospitalized.
About fifty children have been treated there since the start of the war, according to the Vatican.
Some young patients suffered from cancer, neurological diseases and other pathologies before the Russian invasion on February 24 and “fleed from the first days of the war”, the hospital said.
Also treated are girls with “serious injuries from explosions” during the conflict.
“Let us pray for them…the children (admitted) to the Bambino Gesu wounded by war,” the pope had declared earlier in the day, addressing a children’s choir.
“It’s a difficult time. Here in Rome, we will help them get better,” he added.