"Put aside your weapons, begin an Easter ceasefire," he told the crowd of some 50,000 Catholic faithful gathered at St Peter's Square on Palm Sunday. Easter falls on April 17 for the Roman Catholic Church, but will be marked on April 24 by the Orthodox churches prevalent in Ukraine and Russia. "But not to reload weapons and continue fighting, no. A ceasefire to reach peace, thanks to honest negotiations, ready also to make sacrifices for the good of the people." "What kind of victory is it to raise a flag on a pile of rubble?" the 85-year-old pope asked. Francis has appealed for peace since the war began. This week he will send his cardinal in charge of alms distribution, Konrad Krajewski, to Ukraine for a third time, to hand over an ambulance with medicine and equipment.