SW News: Pope Francis has reiterated his pleas for the Ukrainian children once again. The latest appeal came on Wednesday following his General Audience at the Paul VI Hall, where he called the faithful to remember the Ukrainian children suffering this Christmas season.

When a child loses the ability to smile, it is serious." The Pope used these words to express his sympathy for the children in the Eastern European nation "who are suffering, suffering so much, from this war."

He then urged everyone to pray for the Ukrainian children who suffer from extreme weather and lack of basics. The Pope said, "Let us think about the Ukrainian children on the feast of God becoming a child," highlighting the sorrow that forces them to endure "the war, that is so inhuman, so harsh."

During a speech last week, the pontiff urged Christians to spend less on Christmas festivities and gifts this year and donate to Ukrainians to help them survive the winter's hunger and cold.

The Holy Father then said. "They are without heating, without the main things to survive." Therefore, he said, "Let us pray that the Lord may bring them peace as soon as possible."

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the Pope has pleaded for the country at almost every public event.

Separately, following the General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis greeted a Ukrainian woman and her kid whose husband is a prisoner of war. They had brought the Pope gifts, including a calendar that showed the destruction of the Azovstal steelworks factory.

The 2023 calendar, which the mother and son gave to the Pope after spending some time with him, had horrifying illustrations of the effects of war in the Eastern European country.

The Pope studied those gruesome pictures, looking through each image on the calendar one by one. Images of devastation and grief were present, paying vivid witness to the agony of Mariupol's inhabitants, the country's capital city that had been under Russian army siege for months.