By Andrea Gagliarducci
Pope Francis and the Metropolitan
bishops and the members of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church, Apostolic Palace, Sala Bologna, July 5, 2019 - credit Vatican
Media / ACI Group
According to Major Archbishop Sviatoslav
Shevchuk, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has the mission to be the
catalyst of dialogue and unity. The head of the biggest of the 23
Churches Sui iuris (i.e. Churches granted of their rite and
jurisdiction) wraps up with CNA the outcomes of the two-day meeting in
the Vatican summoned by Pope Francis.
The meeting took place on
July 5-6. 2019. It gathered around the same table Metropolitans and
members of the Synod of the Greek Catholic Church and officials of the
Roman Curia who have some interest in Ukraine. Pope Francis took part in
both of the days of the meeting.
For the first time, Pope Francis
mentioned that a “hybrid war” is taking place in Ukraine and for the
first time a release by the Holy See Press Office described the
situation in Ukraine as a war and not as a conflict.
Topics of
discussions of the meeting were: the war in Ukraine, the ecumenical
challenge of Eastern Catholic Churches, the catechism as a mean of
unity.
Major Archbishop Shevchuk told CNA that “Pope Francis
himself wanted the meeting, and he chaired it both of the days and not
just the initial day as it was previewed.”
According to the head
of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Pope wants that Eastern
Churches develop and flourish. Eastern Churches are always labeled as
uniates, that means Churches who celebrated a union with Rome.
Major
Archbishop Shevchuk noted that uniatism as a method to re-establish the
full and visible unity of the Church of Christ is over because it is a
method “that breaks a Church and makes part of this breach be absorbed
by another Church” which “creates divisions and do not help to heal the
wounds.
However, he underscored that the notion of uniatism is
used to “question the real existence of Catholic Eastern Churches,”
which are “alive people and vibrant Churches.”
The Pope makes the
distinction between the method and the people, said Beatitude Shevchuk,
and noted that the meeting started a methodology in addressing the
issues of Catholic Eastern Churches. “We presented to the Pope our
experience of being a Synod,” he said.
He then added that “the focal point of our reflection has been
the war in Ukraine: to everybody, it is clear that this was is foreign
aggression, that Ukraine is a victim of the aggression and that the was
is a hybrid war, often forgotten or biased.
In his report, Major
Archbishop pointed out there are two ways to refer to Ukraine: with
Ukraine, Ukrainian means the identity of a people and the State as
subject of international law and that is living the decolonizing
process; by Ukraine, “the aggressor, that is the Russian Federation,
means a territory that is object of negotiations and geopolitical
interest, a provisional or “failed’ State where “a people does not
exist.”
“The war in Ukraine is, in the end, a colonial war,
fought in the heart of Europe, intending to re-establish an empire,”
said Major Archbishop Shevchuk.
The head of the Ukrainian Greek
Catholic Church said he presented to the Holy Father the wish of his
people to defend his country, that is “a country on the path out of
colonization,” that lived three revolutions: the Revolution on Granite
in 1990, that ended with the declaration of independence and the
dissolution of Soviet Union; the “Orange Revolution” in 2004; and
finally the “Revolution of Dignity” in 2013.
The Church,
Beatitude Shevchuk said, accompanied this path of liberation as “master
of liberation,” because they wish to be free “is born out of the
conscience of your dignity.”
“During the times of the Soviet
Union, the Church, especially our clandestine Church, has always been an
oasis for human dignity, as the communist totalitarian world canceled
the human dignity and the Church have always been the ultimate refuge
for this dignity,” the Major Archbishop said.
Freedom is a
manifestation of dignity, and it is a spiritual phenomenon, as “one can
be free even when in prison, as our martyrs testify.”
The head of
the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church noted that the Church’s commitment
to being “master of liberation” might also help the ecumenical movement.
Shevchuk
said: “I spoke about a colonial war moved against Ukraine by an
aggressor that wants to keep our nation at the peripheries of a big
empire. I am convinced that great ecumenical advancement experienced
during the second half of the 20th century is an outcome of the process
of decolonization: as soon as geopolitical and worldly interests freed
the spiritual life, the Churches regained their capacity to dialogue.”
“The
problem with ecumenism in Ukraine and the whole territory of the
ex-Soviet Union is that decolonization has not yet happened. The
Churches were often servants and instruments of the state authorities,”
he added.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is very committed in the ecumenical dialogue, Major Archbishop Shevchuk said.
“We
want, he stressed, take care of the relations with all the churches in
Ukraine, and in particular with Orthodox confessions that represent the
71 percent of the Christian population. We look for any opportunity to
collaborate, especially to help the people that are enduring the war. In
the end, a bomb makes no distinction between Catholics and Orthodox, or
Polish, Ukrainian or Russian speakers: it kills everyone.”
Beatitude
Shevchuk said that “ecumenical identity is part of the identity of an
Eastern Catholic Church: we have the same theology, the same canonical
praxis of our Orthodox brothers. We need to put into practice.”
Establishing
some bilateral official dialogue between the Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church and Orthodox confessions will be the first step.
The
second step will be “thinking how to apply in the local pastoral
framework the fruits of the ecumenical dialogue at a global level,”
starting from “the work of the Joint Catholic-Orthodox International
Theological Commission,” said Shevchuk.
One crucial point will be the mutual recognition of the sacraments.
Major
Archbishop Shevchuk underscored that he does not know the reason why
Pope Francis summoned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and not any of
the other Sui iuris churches, but he noted that “the final release of
the meeting speaks about a new methodology, and perhaps tomorrow the
Pope will summon other Catholic Eastern Churches, to let also these
churches to flourish.”
In conclusion, Major Archbishop Shevchuk spoke about three dreams of the Greek Catholic Ukrainian Church.
The first is Pope Francis’ visit to Ukraine. “Pope Francis’ visit to Ukraine would end the war,” Major Archbishop said.
The
second dream is the recognition of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
as a Patriarchate. Currently, it is a Major Archbishop. There is some
slight difference: when there is a Patriarch, the Pope is informed of
his election and grants the ecclesiastical communion; when there is
Major Archbishop, the Pope need to confirm the vote to make it valid.
The
decision to tailor the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church as a Major
archbishopry was not to create problems with orthodox Patriarchate.
Major
Archbishop Shevchuk said that the request to become a Patriarchate was
on the table, and that “the Patriarchate is a way of being, not a medal
of honor. It is a tool to make our Church flourish, as it increases our
effectiveness and our pastoral work.”
He added that “our Church is not a danger for our Orthodox brothers. We are not against someone, but for Someone.”
According
to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Patriarchate is
also needed to face new challenges given by the high rate of migrants –
every year, one million people leave Ukraine, according to the
Ukrainian ministry for foreign affairs.
Ukrainians also back the beatification of Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky, that led the Greek Catholic Church from 1901 to 1944.
“He
was, major archbishop Shevchuk maintains, the first to understand that
our is a global Church. When he was our metropolitan, Ukrainian Greek
Catholic Church had just three eparchies in Western Ukraine, and now
there are 34 all over the world. He was the first to highlight the need
to meet the pastoral needs of migrants. We are now harvesting the fruits
of his work.”
These three dreams are “closer than before the
meeting.” Major Archbishop Shevchuk, however, underscored that “the
two-day meeting was not intended to make decisions already made within
some dicastery. They have been days of study, analysis, and reflections.
We are now waiting for concrete decisions.”
* Catholic News Agency columns are opinion and do not necessarily express the perspective of the agency.