Moscow withdrew from the agreement after protesting for months that the parts of the deal that allowed for the export of Russian fertiliser were not honoured.

Following Russia’s pullout, wheat prices have risen but the Catholic leader has called for Russia to mitigate the crisis by returning.

“I am calling on my brothers, the authorities in the Russian Federation, to re-establish the Black Sea initiative so that the wheat could be safely transported”, Francis said during his weekly Angelus prayer on Sunday, July 30.

“We are constantly praying for martyred Ukraine, where the war is destroying everything, including the wheat, which is a major offence to God because wheat is his gift to feed humanity and the cries of millions of our brothers and sisters suffering from hunger are lifting to the sky,” he said.

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