Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, has become a haven for people fleeing from Russia's onslaught. For many, it's a stop on their way to neighboring countries like Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.
The United Nations reports that the escalating conflict in Ukraine has placed the lives of the country's 7.5 million children at risk.
Helping get these children and their mothers from Lviv to the border has become a priority for Italian missionary, Fr. Moreno Cattelan, who accompanied his first group to Romania.
FR. MORENO CATTELAN
Sons of Divine Providence (Don Orione)
“When I saw that they were safely in Fr. Valeriano's bus, I walked back from the bus to the border. About half a mile, one mile. I showed the border guard my Italian passport, and he said, 'Father.' (I was wearing my habit.) He said, 'Father, you're Italian. Italy is in the other direction. This is the way to Ukraine.' I said, 'Yes, I know. I accompanied my group of young people with disabilities, who will be taken to Italy, but I'm going back to Ukraine because we made a commitment to stay. We made a commitment to stay despite everything.”
Fr. Moreno says the missionaries have also made their residence in Lviv available to the most vulnerable people, mostly women and infants, who are staying in Ukraine to wait out the conflict.
FR. MORENO CATTELAN
Sons of Divine Providence (Don Orione)
“They have a room, there's a bathroom, a kitchen. The other day, a mother arrived with her baby, who was one month and five days old. You understand there's no way she can stay in a gym or a school, in that sort of temporary refuge.”
Ukraine has been Fr. Moreno's home for 17 years, and he refuses to abandon his suffering community.
FR. MORENO CATTELAN
Sons of Divine Providence (Don Orione)
“I feel like a part of this people, part of their traditions, their culture, their great religiosity and their strength of unity, cohesion, dignity, of being one people.”
Numerous religious communities and NGOs throughout Europe have been collaborating to provide refugees with humanitarian aid and to help get them to safety.
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