Pope Francis meets bishops of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

This was reported by the online representation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). 

On the morning of September 6, the bishops of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church had a private audience with the Holy Father Francis in the Vatican. At the Pope's initiative, the meeting was held an hour earlier "to have a longer conversation with the Ukrainian bishops."

The Head and Father of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, said that "the meeting was a time of mutual listening and an opportunity for frank and sincere dialogue."

The meeting began with a joint prayer for Ukraine and all those "who are dying in our country at this moment at the hands of the Russian aggressor."

"In our conversation with the Holy Father, we expressed everything that our faithful in Ukraine and around the world have entrusted us to convey to him. Our bishops spoke in Ukrainian, English, Portuguese, and Italian," commented His Beatitude Sviatoslav.

The bishops told the Pope that some of his statements "are painful and difficult to perceive for the Ukrainian people, who are bleeding for their dignity and independence at this moment." They also emphasized that the misunderstandings that have arisen between Ukraine and the Vatican since the beginning of the full-scale war are used by Russian propaganda to justify and support the ideology of the "Russian world."

The Pope commented on this statement:

"Returning from Mongolia, during a conversation with journalists, I said that it is a real pain when the cultural heritage of a people is "distilled" and manipulated 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."

He also assured of his support for Ukraine.

"A 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," he said.

As a symbol of his closeness to the Ukrainian people, Pope Francis brought an icon of the Virgin Mary, presented by His Beatitude Sviatoslav when he was a young bishop in Argentina.

"I pray before it every day for Ukraine," Francis emphasized.

The bishops also thanked Pope Francis for his constant support of Ukraine at the international level, his humanitarian actions, personal efforts to free prisoners, the peacekeeping mission of the special papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zupi, etc.

Representatives of the UGCC called on Francis to continue efforts to free prisoners of war and reminded him of the Redemptorist priests, Fr. Ivan Levytsky and Fr. Bohdan Haleta, who are still in Russian captivity.

Vatican's position on the war in Ukraine

In late April, Pope Francis announced that the Vatican was participating in a peacekeeping mission to try to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Subsequently, both Kyiv and Moscow denied the information about this initiative, but on May 10, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that "these were not refusals."

"They said they didn't know anything about it, but then there were contacts where it turned out on both sides that it was a misunderstanding," he said.

In early June, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi visited Kyiv and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets told the Vatican representative about the murders, rapes, and abductions of Ukrainian children by the Russian military.

On June 28, Zuppi arrived in Moscow and met with children's ombudsman Lvova-Belova, who is suspected of mass abduction of Ukrainian children. On July 4, Cardinal Zuppi announced that he was working on a mechanism for the return of deported Ukrainian children.

On August 3, during a meeting with Ukrainian youth, Pope Francis assured them of his prayers for Ukraine and apologized for "failing to do more."

Recently, Pope Francis called Russians "descendants of great culture and humanity" and "great Russia." Ukraine's Foreign Ministry criticized the Pope for promoting narratives about Russia's "greatness."

On September 4, Francis commented on his controversial statement about "Great Mother Russia" and said that he was misunderstood, as he meant culture.