Pope announces special collection for Ukraine in European churches

Pope Francis blesses a child at the end of a Jubilee mass in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, April 3, 2016. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday announced that a special collection would be taken up in all of Europe's Roman Catholic churches on April 24 to raise funds to help the people of Ukraine.

Speaking to tens of thousands of people at the end of a Mass in St. Peter's Square, he said he wanted the collection to be a "gesture of charity that, apart from alleviating material suffering, shows my personal closeness as well as that of the entire Church" to the people of Ukraine.