SWC Praises Pope Francis’ Ukraine Initiative, Urges All Faith Leaders To Raise Their Voices And For Us And Nato To Take Further Action To Stop The Death And Destruction Wrought By Russia’ Invasion

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is grateful that Pope Francis has personally visited the Russian Embassy to the Holy See today todirectly express his concerns over the invasion of Ukraine.

“We hope this signals that Pope Francis is directly involved in trying to mitigate this burgeoning disaster before it is too late,”said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO and Founder and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and Global Social Action Director. “We encourage all faith leaders, whatever theiraffiliation, to add their moral voices during this critical time,” they added.

“Ultimately, we hope that all of our prayers and stepped-up measures by US and NATO, will stop the Russians from taking over aneighbor and causing untold and unwarranted death and destruction,” Hier and Cooper concluded.

For further information contact the Center’s Communications department at pressinquiries@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament(Parlatino).