Vatican unveils unusual postage stamp honouring Ukraine's Catholics

VATICAN CITY, Feb 26 - The Vatican unveiled a new postage stamp on Thursday honouring Ukraine's Catholics, with the design showing their cathedral in Kyiv during a blackout in an unusually pointed reference to the daily struggles of Ukrainians in wartime. Read more at straitstimes.com.

VATICAN CITY, Feb 26 - The Vatican unveiled a new postage stamp on Thursday honouring Ukraine's Catholics, with the design showing their cathedral in Kyiv during a blackout in an unusually pointed reference to the daily struggles of Ukrainians in wartime.

While the Vatican Postal Service frequently issues stamps to mark Catholic holidays or honour national Churches, it usually avoids any political references in its designs, preferring depictions of religious figures such as local saints.

The new stamp, issued in the week that marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion, depicts Kyiv's Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ darkened by a lack of electricity but illuminated from behind with the orange glow of an evening sky.

Blackouts have become a common experience across Ukraine as Russia targets the electricity grid, power stations and other energy infrastructure with missiles and drones.

Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, leader of Ukraine's four million Eastern-rite Catholics, said at a Vatican event for the unveiling that the release of the stamp represented "a great moment of consolation".

"We really feel embraced by the Holy See for this particular attention to our history, to our life in this tragic moment of war," Shevchuk said, speaking Italian.