A year after Russia started its all-out attack on Ukraine, Archbishop Shevchuk said he felt “joy and gratitude” that Ukraine is still there, that the Ukrainian church has found myriad ways to support the people, and that Catholics around the globe have shown their solidarity, including concretely by sending aid.
There are 23 Eastern churches in communion with Rome, of which the Ukrainian Catholic Church, with 6 million members, is the largest.
A Byzantine priest from Lviv, a native of Donetsk who became famous throughout Ukraine after being captured by separatists in 2014, announced the beginning of an exorcism ritual aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As Russian troops approached Ukraine’s capital, Pope Francis phoned the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, offering his encouragement and promising, “I will do everything I can” to help. Earlier in the day, breaking usual diplomatic practice, Pope Francis had left the Vatican and gone to the Russian Embassy to the Holy See to express his concern for the war.
“The church that wouldn’t burn,” reads a headline on the cover of the December 2018/January 2019 issue of Reader’s Digest magazine.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ pleas for humanitarian aid for Ukraine is bringing needed attention to a forgotten war, said Ukrainian Catholic leaders. The 2-year-old […]
