Pope calls for 'serious international dialogue' to defuse Ukraine tensions

FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis looks on as he holds a news conference aboard a plane on his flight back to Rome after visiting Cyprus and Greece, December 6, 2021. Alessandro Di Meo/Pool via REUTERS

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis, in his first comments on the tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine, called on Sunday for serious international dialogue to resolve tensions and urged both sides to avoid an armed conflict.

He said he was praying for "dear Ukraine, for all its churches and religious communities and for all of its people, so that tensions there are resolved through a serious international dialogue and not with weapons".