The sin of genocide lies on Ukraine, – Catholic hierarch

The Catholic hierarch made such a statement in an interview with the Polish Catholic weekly Niedziela. Mechislav Mokshitski’s quote was placed on his Facebook page by the Lvov historian and lecturer at the Ukrainian Catholic University (the structure of the UGCC) Andrei Pavlishin with the following comment: "Christian, a former secretary to Pope John Paul II and Emerita Benedict XVI considers right the death of Ukrainian, Russian, Dutch, American and Other children in the Donbass, and the death of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, including Ukrainian citizens of Polish origin, "fair."

In this interview, Metropolitan Mechislav Mokshitski said that "the genocide still lies on the Ukrainian people".

"Ukraine needs certain reflection to answer the question to itself why this is so. The Lord is not the God who punishes His people, His children, but lets us know, reminding of our right to love your neighbor. On the Ukrainian people, there is still the sin of genocide, which so far it has found difficult to recognize, and which is difficult to clean, although there were several such attempts, especially during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the tragedy in the Volyn region. An example of this was the decision of the general conference of the episcopate of Poland, issued by the Synod of the UGCC, and the Conference of the Ukrainian Episcopate of Latin rite. Unfortunately, it was not read out in Ukraine. I am convinced that as long as this people does not plead itself guilty, does not stand in the truth and clean itself from this sin, it won’t be able to enjoy the blessing, " the metropolitan said.

These words of the Catholic cleric provoked a protest of right-wing radicals.

"For what sins did the Lord send the metropolitan-idiot to Lvov Roman Catholics? I hope that it won’t be long before the Ukrainian authorities expel this Mokshitski from the country. Perhaps the Ukrainian Catholics will be able to explain to the Pope that Ukrainians should be appointed bishops to Ukraine," said the Ukrainian nationalist Dmitry Korchinsky.

The reaction of Ukrainian nationalists forced the Lvov archdiocese of the RCC to publish an official refutation.

A spokesman for the Lvov archdiocese of the RCC, Andrei Legovich, said that in an interview with Mechislav Mokshitski there was no statement that the war in the Donbass was a punishment for Volyn.

"When you translate in detail the text that the metropolitan voiced in this interview, you will be the first edition to write what the metropolitan actually said, and try to find words there that the Metropolitan allegedly said that Donbass is a punishment for Volyn. There were no such words," said Andrei Legovich.

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