On September 16, at 12:30, the Father and
Head of the UGCC, met with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the
Vatican. The meeting was held at the home of Santa Marta, where the Holy
Father Francis lives.
Upon his official visit to the Vatican, Patriarch Bartholomew met with
His Beatitude Sviatoslav the next day to discuss the situation in
Ukraine and the ecumenical relations between the UGCC and the OCU.
During his conversation with His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, His
Beatitude Sviatoslav expressed his hopes and wishes that "with the
granting of autocephaly, the ecumenical dialogue with the Orthodox
Church of Ukraine will be raised to a qualitatively higher level. It is
from this historic moment that in the ecumenical dialogue for the UGCC,
the main interlocutor is no longer the Russian Orthodox Church, but the
local Orthodox Church in Ukraine."
His Beatitude Sviatoslav, summing up the Meeting of Eastern Catholic
Hierarchs of Europe, held in Rome on September 12-14, emphasized: "The
Eastern Catholic Churches make their theological contribution to the
tradition of the Catholic Church, helping it to express its global
dimension. The Church cannot be limited only to its Latin tradition."
Concerning the ecumenical dialogue with the Orthodox Church, "the
Eastern Catholic Churches offer new elements in understanding the
primacy of the Bishop of Rome and synodality." "At the same time, the
Eastern Catholic Churches," said His Beatitude Sviatoslav "are offering
to the Roman Catholic Church new forms of Peter's ministry."
The Head of the UGCC also suggested that Patriarch Bartholomew set up a
mixed commission of the Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic
Churches to "give a new impetus to the ecumenical dialogue."
The Patriarch of Constantinople explained to His Holiness Sviatoslav
his steps regarding giving autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
and praised the openness of the UGCC in ecumenical communication. The
Head of the UGCC recalled that this was their second meeting and
expressed his joy over the fact that the children of the Kyiv Church
remember that their Mother Church is the Church of ancient
Constantinople.
It should be added that the meeting took place on the initiative of the
Head of the UGCC in the framework of the official visit of the Holy
Patriarch Bartholomew to the Vatican, organized by the Pontifical
Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Secretariat of the Head of the UGCC in Rome
Photo of the Secretariat of the Head of the UGCC in Rome