At 12:30pm today, in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis met the Bishops of the Greek-Catholic Church in Ukraine; the Byzantine Rite Bishop of Mukachevo and the Bishops of the Ukrainian Episcopal Conference, received this morning in separate audiences on the occasion of their visit ad limina Apostolorum.
The Holy Father provided three autographed copies of his speech to each of the Prelates, since there are three ecclesiastical jurisdictions in Ukraine.
Your Beatitude,
Lord Archbishop,
Dear brother Bishops,
I welcome you to this house which is also your house. You know this well, since the Successor of Peter has always welcomed with fraternal friendship, his brothers from Ukraine, a country which, rightly, is considered a border line between the descendants of Vladimir and Olga and those of Adalbert and the great Carolingian missionaries, as well as those who refer to the holy Apostles of the Slavs, Cyril and Methodius. And even before all of this, there were traditions, partially documented, which mention the Apostle Andrew and the two martyred Popes: Saint Clement and Saint Martin I. Dear brothers, you are most welcome!
With great attention, I have learned about your problems, which are many, and about your pastoral plans. I entrust them with confidence to the Mother of God and our Mother, who watches over us with tender love:
Your country is in a situation of grave conflict, which has been continuing for several months and is claiming numerous innocent victims and causing great suffering for the entire population. In this period, as I have assured you on many occasions, directly and through the Cardinal Visitors, I am especially close to you in my prayer for the dead and for those who are being affected by the violence, with supplications offered to the Lord, that he may soon grant peace, and with a call to all the interested parties that they enact the arrangements reached by common agreement and respect the principles of international law; especially, that they observe the truce which was recently signed and has been applied in relation to all other commitments which are conditions to prevent the resumption of hostilities.
I know the historical events which have marked your land and which are still present in your collective memory. It is a matter of questions which in part have a political basis, and to which you are called to provide direct answers, but there are also socio-cultural realities and human dramas which require your direct and positive contribution.
In circumstances such as those, what is important is to listen attentively to the voices coming from your land, where the people entrusted to your pastoral care live. Listening to your people, you demonstrate your care for the values that characterize them: encounter, collaboration, an ability to resolve disputes. Put simply: the search for possible peace. This ethical patrimony you can feed with love, the divine love that comes from the heart of Christ. I am well aware that, at the local level, you have specific policies and practices among you, heirs of two established spiritual traditions - Eastern and Latin - as well as other Christians present among you. As well as a duty, this is also an honour which must be recognized.
At the national level, you are fully citizens of your country, and therefore you have the right to make your thoughts known, even in common form, concerning your destiny. Not in the sense of promoting a particular political action, but by the indication and reaffirmation of values which constitute the unifying element of Ukrainian society, persevering in tireless pursuit of harmony and the common good, even in the face of grave and complex difficulties.
The Holy See is at your side, also at that of international entities, to make your rights, your concerns and the just evangelical values that motivate you, understood. Moreover, it is searching to see in what ways it can meet the pastoral necessities of those ecclesiastical structures that also find themselves facing new juridical questions.
The crisis triggered off in your country has had, as is understandable, grave repercussions in the life of families. To this is added the consequences of that badly understood sense of economic freedom that has enabled the formation of a restricted group of persons who have enriched themselves enormously to the detriment of the great majority of citizens. The presence of such a phenomenon has unfortunately also polluted the public institutions to differing degrees. This has generated an iniquitous poverty in a generous and rich land.
Do not tire of making present to your fellow citizens the considerations that the faith and your pastoral responsibility suggest to you. The sense of justice and of truth that, before being political is moral, and this task is also entrusted to your responsibility as Pastors. The more you are free ministers of the Church of Christ, all the more, despite your own poverty, will you be defenders of families, of the poor, of the unemployed, of the weak, of the sick, of the elderly pensioners, of the invalids and of those who have been displaced.
I encourage you, with the grace of God, to renew your zeal for the proclamation of the gospel in Ukrainian society and to support one another in this effort with active collaboration. You should always strive to see as Christ sees, he who saw the abundance of the harvest and prayed to the Lord to send the labourers (cf Matthew 9:37-38). This means that you must pray and work for vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life and, at the same time, it means that you must take care to be attentive to the formation of the clergy, of the men and women religious, all the while striving to be found in service to a more profound and organic knowledge of the faith within the people of God.
In addition, I would like to give you a further reflection regarding relationships among you, brothers in the Episcopate. I know the complex historical issues that weigh on your mutual relationships, as well as some aspects of a more personal character.
The fact remains indisputable that in both Episcopates there are Catholics and Ukrainians, though they exist in a diversity of rites and traditions. It hurts me, personally, to hear that there are misunderstandings and wounds. There is need for a doctor, and this doctor is Jesus Christ, whom you both serve with generosity and your whole heart. You are one body and, as Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI have said in the past, I exhort you, in my turn, to find between you the way to receive one another and to support one another generously in your apostolic endeavuors.
The unity of the Episcopate, in addition to giving good witness to the people of God, provides an inestimable service to the nation, either on the cultural and social plane, or especially, on the spiritual plane. You are united in fundamental values and you hold the most precious treasures in common: the faith and the people of God. Therefore, I consider as of supreme importance, the joint reunion of the Bishops of all the Churches sui iuris who are present in Ukraine. Always be generous in talking among brothers!
Whether as Greek-Catholics or as Latin Rite [Catholics] you are children of the Catholic Church, which in your land also was subjected for a long period to martyrdom. May the blood of your witnesses, who intercede for you from Heaven, be the ultimate reason that pushes you to a true communion of hearts. Unite your strengths and support one another, making historical issues a reason for sharing and for unity. Well rooted in the Catholic communion, you will also be able to carry on your ecumenical commitment with faith and patience, so that unity and cooperation may grow among all Christians.
I am certain that your decisions, in agreement with the Successor of Peter, will be able to take charge of your people's expectations. I invite you all to govern the communities entrusted to you, ensuring as much as possible your presence and your closeness to the priests and the faithful.
I hope that you will be able to have respectful and profitable relations with the public Authorities. I exhort you to be attentive and solicitous to the poor: they are your riches. You are Pastors of a flock entrusted to you by Christ; be always well aware of this, also in your internal organizations of self-government. They should always understood as instruments of communion and of prophecy. In this connection, I hope that your intentions and your actions will always be oriented to the general good of the Churches entrusted to you. In this may you be guided, as always, by love for your Communities, in the same spirit that sustained the Apostles, of whom you are the legitimate successors. May you be supported in your work by the memory and intercession of so many Martyrs and Saints, which the grace of the Lord Jesus aroused among you. May the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin reassure you on your journey of encounter with Christ who comes to reinforce your resolutions of communion and collaboration. And, while I ask you to pray for me, I affectionately impart a special Apostolic Blessing upon you, upon your Communities, and upon the dear people of Ukraine.
The Holy Father provided three autographed copies of his speech to each of the Prelates, since there are three ecclesiastical jurisdictions in Ukraine.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
Addressed to the Bishops of Ukraine
Your Beatitude,
Lord Archbishop,
Dear brother Bishops,
I welcome you to this house which is also your house. You know this well, since the Successor of Peter has always welcomed with fraternal friendship, his brothers from Ukraine, a country which, rightly, is considered a border line between the descendants of Vladimir and Olga and those of Adalbert and the great Carolingian missionaries, as well as those who refer to the holy Apostles of the Slavs, Cyril and Methodius. And even before all of this, there were traditions, partially documented, which mention the Apostle Andrew and the two martyred Popes: Saint Clement and Saint Martin I. Dear brothers, you are most welcome!
With great attention, I have learned about your problems, which are many, and about your pastoral plans. I entrust them with confidence to the Mother of God and our Mother, who watches over us with tender love:
Your country is in a situation of grave conflict, which has been continuing for several months and is claiming numerous innocent victims and causing great suffering for the entire population. In this period, as I have assured you on many occasions, directly and through the Cardinal Visitors, I am especially close to you in my prayer for the dead and for those who are being affected by the violence, with supplications offered to the Lord, that he may soon grant peace, and with a call to all the interested parties that they enact the arrangements reached by common agreement and respect the principles of international law; especially, that they observe the truce which was recently signed and has been applied in relation to all other commitments which are conditions to prevent the resumption of hostilities.
I know the historical events which have marked your land and which are still present in your collective memory. It is a matter of questions which in part have a political basis, and to which you are called to provide direct answers, but there are also socio-cultural realities and human dramas which require your direct and positive contribution.
In circumstances such as those, what is important is to listen attentively to the voices coming from your land, where the people entrusted to your pastoral care live. Listening to your people, you demonstrate your care for the values that characterize them: encounter, collaboration, an ability to resolve disputes. Put simply: the search for possible peace. This ethical patrimony you can feed with love, the divine love that comes from the heart of Christ. I am well aware that, at the local level, you have specific policies and practices among you, heirs of two established spiritual traditions - Eastern and Latin - as well as other Christians present among you. As well as a duty, this is also an honour which must be recognized.
At the national level, you are fully citizens of your country, and therefore you have the right to make your thoughts known, even in common form, concerning your destiny. Not in the sense of promoting a particular political action, but by the indication and reaffirmation of values which constitute the unifying element of Ukrainian society, persevering in tireless pursuit of harmony and the common good, even in the face of grave and complex difficulties.
The Holy See is at your side, also at that of international entities, to make your rights, your concerns and the just evangelical values that motivate you, understood. Moreover, it is searching to see in what ways it can meet the pastoral necessities of those ecclesiastical structures that also find themselves facing new juridical questions.
The crisis triggered off in your country has had, as is understandable, grave repercussions in the life of families. To this is added the consequences of that badly understood sense of economic freedom that has enabled the formation of a restricted group of persons who have enriched themselves enormously to the detriment of the great majority of citizens. The presence of such a phenomenon has unfortunately also polluted the public institutions to differing degrees. This has generated an iniquitous poverty in a generous and rich land.
Do not tire of making present to your fellow citizens the considerations that the faith and your pastoral responsibility suggest to you. The sense of justice and of truth that, before being political is moral, and this task is also entrusted to your responsibility as Pastors. The more you are free ministers of the Church of Christ, all the more, despite your own poverty, will you be defenders of families, of the poor, of the unemployed, of the weak, of the sick, of the elderly pensioners, of the invalids and of those who have been displaced.
I encourage you, with the grace of God, to renew your zeal for the proclamation of the gospel in Ukrainian society and to support one another in this effort with active collaboration. You should always strive to see as Christ sees, he who saw the abundance of the harvest and prayed to the Lord to send the labourers (cf Matthew 9:37-38). This means that you must pray and work for vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life and, at the same time, it means that you must take care to be attentive to the formation of the clergy, of the men and women religious, all the while striving to be found in service to a more profound and organic knowledge of the faith within the people of God.
In addition, I would like to give you a further reflection regarding relationships among you, brothers in the Episcopate. I know the complex historical issues that weigh on your mutual relationships, as well as some aspects of a more personal character.
The fact remains indisputable that in both Episcopates there are Catholics and Ukrainians, though they exist in a diversity of rites and traditions. It hurts me, personally, to hear that there are misunderstandings and wounds. There is need for a doctor, and this doctor is Jesus Christ, whom you both serve with generosity and your whole heart. You are one body and, as Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI have said in the past, I exhort you, in my turn, to find between you the way to receive one another and to support one another generously in your apostolic endeavuors.
The unity of the Episcopate, in addition to giving good witness to the people of God, provides an inestimable service to the nation, either on the cultural and social plane, or especially, on the spiritual plane. You are united in fundamental values and you hold the most precious treasures in common: the faith and the people of God. Therefore, I consider as of supreme importance, the joint reunion of the Bishops of all the Churches sui iuris who are present in Ukraine. Always be generous in talking among brothers!
Whether as Greek-Catholics or as Latin Rite [Catholics] you are children of the Catholic Church, which in your land also was subjected for a long period to martyrdom. May the blood of your witnesses, who intercede for you from Heaven, be the ultimate reason that pushes you to a true communion of hearts. Unite your strengths and support one another, making historical issues a reason for sharing and for unity. Well rooted in the Catholic communion, you will also be able to carry on your ecumenical commitment with faith and patience, so that unity and cooperation may grow among all Christians.
I am certain that your decisions, in agreement with the Successor of Peter, will be able to take charge of your people's expectations. I invite you all to govern the communities entrusted to you, ensuring as much as possible your presence and your closeness to the priests and the faithful.
I hope that you will be able to have respectful and profitable relations with the public Authorities. I exhort you to be attentive and solicitous to the poor: they are your riches. You are Pastors of a flock entrusted to you by Christ; be always well aware of this, also in your internal organizations of self-government. They should always understood as instruments of communion and of prophecy. In this connection, I hope that your intentions and your actions will always be oriented to the general good of the Churches entrusted to you. In this may you be guided, as always, by love for your Communities, in the same spirit that sustained the Apostles, of whom you are the legitimate successors. May you be supported in your work by the memory and intercession of so many Martyrs and Saints, which the grace of the Lord Jesus aroused among you. May the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin reassure you on your journey of encounter with Christ who comes to reinforce your resolutions of communion and collaboration. And, while I ask you to pray for me, I affectionately impart a special Apostolic Blessing upon you, upon your Communities, and upon the dear people of Ukraine.
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