Pope Francis has visited with some of the Ukrainian children who escaped the Russian invasion of their country and are being treated at the Vatican's pediatric hospital in Rome.
The Vatican on March 19 said the Bambino Gesu hospital was treating 19 Ukrainian refugees.
It added that about 50 refugee children had passed through the facility in recent weeks.
Some were suffering oncological, neurological, and other problems before the war and fled in the early days of the invasion.
The 84-year-old pontiff has been a vocal critic of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, speaking out about the "barbarity" of the war and the harm caused to Ukrainian children.
