Pope Francis Meets Privately with Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishops as they Relate that some of the Pope's Comments were “painful” - VIDEO
On September 6th, Pope Francis met with the Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church at the Vatican.
The pope said that there is “a need for more prayer, for conversion, and an end to the conflict” in Ukraine, and in a response to a request from Ukrainian Bishops, Pope Francis “expressed his desire that during the month of October, especially in [Marian] Shrines, the Rosary be dedicated to peace and reconciliation in Ukraine.”
The Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, are holding their annual Synod in Rome. The Greek Catholic Church issued a statement, where the bishops expressed that some of comments made by "the Holy See and Your Holiness are painful and difficult for the Ukrainian people." For example, the ones he made to a group of young Russians, telling them that they were the heirs of Great Russia. Pope Francis clarified this comment on his return flight from Mongolia.
, the bishops expressed that some of comments made by "the Holy See and Your Holiness are painful and difficult for the Ukrainian people." For example, the ones he made to a group of young Russians, telling them that they were the heirs of Great Russia. Pope Francis clarified this comment on his return flight from Mongolia.
Pope Francis was initially greeted by Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, “who recalled the painful situation in which his country finds itself, with an increasing number of dead, wounded and tortured people, and who thanked the Pope for the affection shown in so many ways and on so many occasions.”
A statement from the Holy See Press Office noted that, following the greeting from Major Archbishop Shevchuk, several of the assembled bishops shared with the Pope their stories of “the suffering that the Ukrainian people are experiencing in different places and in different ways.”
The Press Office explained that the Holy Father “listened attentively” to their testimony, and “with some brief interventions, expressed his feelings of closeness and participation in the tragedy that the Ukrainians are experiencing, with a ‘dimension of martyrdom’ that is not spoken about enough, subjected to cruelty and criminality.”
He also spoke about “his sorrow for the sense of helplessness experienced in the face of war,” which he ascribed to “the devil, who desires to destroy.”
Pope Francis then related his impressions of the Ukrainian children he has met. “They look at you and have forgotten their smile," he lamented. “This is one of the fruits of war: taking children's smiles away from them.”
In conclusion, the statement noted, Pope Francis “recalled the example of Jesus during the Passion, who did not remain a victim of insults, torture, and crucifixion, but bore witness to the courage to speak the truth, to be close to the people so that they would not be discouraged.”
“This is not easy,” the Pope said. However, he continued, “This is holiness, and the people want us to be saints and teachers of this way that Jesus taught us.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, Pope Francis confided to the Bishops “that he remembers the Ukrainians every day in his prayer before the icon of the Virgin," which the Major Archbishop had given the Pope before he left Buenos Aires.
Source Vatican News
UGCC Statement:
A meeting of bishops of the UGCC Synod with Pope Francis took place in the Vatican
On the morning of September 6, a private audience of the bishops of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church with the Holy Father Francis was held in the Vatican. In a frank conversation, the hierarchs of the UGCC expressed the pain, suffering and some disappointments of the Ukrainian people.
On the initiative of Pope Francis, the meeting took place an hour earlier "to have the opportunity to talk with the Ukrainian bishops for a longer time." According to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Head and Father of the UGCC, "this meeting was a time of mutual listening and an opportunity for frank and sincere dialogue."
The bishops of the UGCC asked Pope Francis to start the meeting with a joint prayer for a just peace in Ukraine and all those "who are dying in our country at this moment at the hands of the Russian aggressor." The Holy Father thanked for the initiative and, together with the Ukrainian bishops, prayed the "Our Father" prayer for Ukraine and its long-suffering people.
"In the conversation with the Holy Father, we expressed everything that our faithful in Ukraine and around the world instructed us to convey to him. Our bishops spoke in Ukrainian, English, Portuguese and Italian," His Beatitude Svyatoslav emphasized. The bishops said that certain statements and gestures "of the Holy See and Your Holiness are painful and difficult for the Ukrainian people, who are currently bleeding in the struggle for their dignity and independence." Misunderstandings that have arisen between Ukraine and the Vatican since the beginning of the full-scale war, the bishops explained, are used by Russian propaganda to justify and support the murderous ideology of the "Russian peace", therefore "the faithful of our Church are sensitive to every word of Your Holiness as the universal voice of truth and justice."
Recognizing the inconsistency of his own words and comparisons addressed to Russian youth, the Holy Father explained: "Returning from Mongolia, during a conversation with journalists, I said that the real pain is when the cultural heritage of a people undergoes "distillation" and is subjected to manipulation by a certain state power, as a result of which it turns into an ideology that destroys and kills. It is a great tragedy when such an ideology breaks into the Church and replaces the Gospel of Christ."
The Holy Father also admitted that "the particular pain of the Ukrainian people is the fact that you doubt who the Pope is with. I want to assure you of my solidarity with you and constant prayerful closeness. I am with the Ukrainian people." As a special gesture and symbol of closeness to the Ukrainian people, Pope Francis brought an icon of the Mother of God, which he showed to the bishops of the UGCC. "This icon was given to me by His Beatitude Sviatoslav when he was a young bishop in Argentina. I pray for Ukraine every day in front of her."
The bishops also thanked Pope Francis for his constant support of Ukraine at the international level, his humanitarian actions, his personal efforts to free prisoners, the peacekeeping mission of the special papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zupi, etc. "Ukrainian youth were sincerely moved by the humility of your words in asking to forgive that it was not possible to do more to end the war in Ukraine," His Beatitude Sviatoslav addressed Pope Francis.
The synodal fathers asked the Holy Father to continue efforts to free the prisoners of war, in particular they recalled the Redemptorist priests - Fr. Ivan Levytskyi and Fr. Bohdan Galeta, who are still in Russian captivity.At the end of the audience, on behalf of the bishops of the UGCC Synod, His Beatitude Sviatoslav presented the Pope with some personal belongings of the captive Redemptorist priests: a missionary cross, a prayer book and a rosary. "These things, Your Holiness, testify to the suffering of our Church together with its people amid the horrors of the war caused by Russian aggression. As a priceless treasure, we hand them over to you with the hope that soon a just peace will come to Ukraine." The head of the UGCC also presented His Holiness with an icon of Jesus Christ, saved from the church burned by the Russians in the village of Krasnoye Zaporizhzhia region.
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