Francis, the Pope of Rome, in his Easter address to the world on Sunday, 9 April, asked Russians to seek the truth about their country's invasion of Ukraine. There, from the same spot where he first appeared to the world as Pope on the night of his election in 2013, he spoke of "the darkness and the gloom in which, all too often, our world finds itself enveloped", and prayed to God for peace. "Open the hearts of the entire international community to strive to end this war and all conflict and bloodshed in our world", the pontiff said