"Prayer is the force for peace that breaks the spiral of hatred, breaks the circle of revenge and opens unexpected paths of reconciliation." Francis prayed on this Sunday at the conclusion of the Angelus, which he recited from the chapel of Casa Santa Marta due to the the flu that had afflicted him the day before, for "all peoples torn apart by conflicts." In the letter delivered by Monsignor Paolo Braida, head of the Secretariat of State, the Pope asked the faithful who were listening to him via video connection from St. Peter's Square and throughout the world to keep praying for peace. The statements of the Bishop of Rome, in particular, indicated his relief at the Middle East peace. The Pope's attention was also drawn to the beleaguered Ukraine, which on Saturday "commemorated the Holodomor, the genocide perpetrated by the Soviet regime that, 90 years ago, caused the death of millions of people by starvation."