The Holy Father, Pope Francis has sent a Message to His Beatitude, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyč (Ukraine). His Beatitude is the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. This Message was delivered yesterday by His Excellency, Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.
How precious is your love, O God! You hide men in the shadow of your wings! (Psalm 36, 8)
As believers, we take refuge under the protective wings of the Lord, for we are bearers, yes, of divine grace, but we are like earthenware vessels (cf 2 Cor 4:7). In some circumstances, our human condition is made even more fragile because of difficult historical situations which mark the life of the People of God, of the Community which Jesus Christ our Lord has won with His own Blood.
The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is currently commemorating the sad events which took place in March 1946. Seventy years ago, the ideological and political context, as well as the ideas which were contrary to the very existence of your Church, led to the organization of a pseudo-synod in Lviv which caused decades of suffering among your pastors and the faithful.
In memory of these events, we bow our heads with profound gratitude before those who, even at the cost of trial and even martyrdom, over the course of time have borne witness to their faith, lived with dedication in their own Church and in continual union with the Successor of Peter. At the same time, with eyes illuminated by this same faith, we look to the Lord Jesus Christ, in order to discover all our hope in Him and not in human justice. He is the true font of our trust for the present and for the future, since we are certain to be called to proclaim the Gospel even amidst any suffering or difficulty.
And who will harm you if you are zealous for good? If then you should have to suffer for righteousness, blessed are you! ... Adore the Lord, Christ, in your hearts, always ready to respond to whoever should ask the reason for the hope that is within you. Yet, do so with gentleness and respect ... (1 Peter 3:13-15).
Making my own the words of the Apostle Peter, I express my profound gratitude to you for your faithfulness and I encourage you to bear tireless witness to the hope that makes our existence, and that of all our brothers and sisters, more luminous within us. I also renew my solidarity with the Pastors and the faithful in all that they are doing during this difficult time, marked by trials and war, to alleviate people's sufferings and to seek paths to peace for the beloved Ukrainian land.
In the Lord we find our courage and our joy. It is to Him that I address my prayer, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the martyrs of your Church, that divine consolation may illuminate the faces of your communities in Ukraine and in other parts of the world. At the same time, with all my heart, I impart to You, to the Bishops, the priests, the consecrated men and women and to all the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church a special Apostolic Blessing as a sign of my constant affection and remembrance.
Message of His Holiness, Pope Francis
to His Beatitude, Sviantoslav Shevchuk
Metropolitan Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyč
How precious is your love, O God! You hide men in the shadow of your wings! (Psalm 36, 8)
As believers, we take refuge under the protective wings of the Lord, for we are bearers, yes, of divine grace, but we are like earthenware vessels (cf 2 Cor 4:7). In some circumstances, our human condition is made even more fragile because of difficult historical situations which mark the life of the People of God, of the Community which Jesus Christ our Lord has won with His own Blood.
The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is currently commemorating the sad events which took place in March 1946. Seventy years ago, the ideological and political context, as well as the ideas which were contrary to the very existence of your Church, led to the organization of a pseudo-synod in Lviv which caused decades of suffering among your pastors and the faithful.
In memory of these events, we bow our heads with profound gratitude before those who, even at the cost of trial and even martyrdom, over the course of time have borne witness to their faith, lived with dedication in their own Church and in continual union with the Successor of Peter. At the same time, with eyes illuminated by this same faith, we look to the Lord Jesus Christ, in order to discover all our hope in Him and not in human justice. He is the true font of our trust for the present and for the future, since we are certain to be called to proclaim the Gospel even amidst any suffering or difficulty.
And who will harm you if you are zealous for good? If then you should have to suffer for righteousness, blessed are you! ... Adore the Lord, Christ, in your hearts, always ready to respond to whoever should ask the reason for the hope that is within you. Yet, do so with gentleness and respect ... (1 Peter 3:13-15).
Making my own the words of the Apostle Peter, I express my profound gratitude to you for your faithfulness and I encourage you to bear tireless witness to the hope that makes our existence, and that of all our brothers and sisters, more luminous within us. I also renew my solidarity with the Pastors and the faithful in all that they are doing during this difficult time, marked by trials and war, to alleviate people's sufferings and to seek paths to peace for the beloved Ukrainian land.
In the Lord we find our courage and our joy. It is to Him that I address my prayer, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the martyrs of your Church, that divine consolation may illuminate the faces of your communities in Ukraine and in other parts of the world. At the same time, with all my heart, I impart to You, to the Bishops, the priests, the consecrated men and women and to all the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church a special Apostolic Blessing as a sign of my constant affection and remembrance.
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