Letter sent to Pope Francis regarding actions of Ukrainian Catholic bishops

Pope Francis. Photo: UGCC Synod website

The Union of Orthodox Journalists (UOJ) sent a letter to Pope Francis pointing out the inconsistency between the actions of Roman Catholic bishops in Ukraine and the pontiff's stance on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). According to the UOJ, the Vatican has already received the letter.

The journalists reminded the pope of his words:
"No Christian Church should be abolished, either directly or indirectly: Churches are inviolable. Let those who wish to pray do so in the Church they consider their own."

Meanwhile, the UOJ emphasized that Catholic hierarchs in Ukraine have expressed completely different views.

Specifically, the journalists highlighted that:
"On the eve of the unlawful vote to ban the UOC on August 17, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, Vitaliy Kryvytskyi, participated in an online meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and selected members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO), representing Catholics. During this meeting, he publicly stated his agreement with initiatives to ban the UOC, claiming that our Church, quote, 'has not taken real steps to separate itself (from the ROC) and condemn (Russian aggression).'"

Kryvytskyi also declared his support for the president and government’s initiatives to adopt a law banning the UOC, the journalists noted.

The UOJ also drew the pope’s attention to the remarks of UGCC head Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who, during the same meeting, stated on behalf of the UGCC:
"We fully support everything the state is doing to ensure the realization of Ukrainian citizens' rights to religious freedom. We see that these new steps (referring to the law banning the UOC – Ed.) are precisely aimed at securing this religious freedom."

The journalists called these statements a stream of lies, hypocrisy, and distortion of concepts, where a Christian archbishop effectively claims that banning a Church is a step toward religious freedom.

"We believe, in light of your previously stated words, it needs no explanation how cynical this is. Let us remind you that the UOC, the largest member of this organization (UCCRO), was not even invited to this event," the letter stated.

The UOJ emphasized that His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, Primate of the UOC, was the first among all religious leaders in the country to publicly condemn Russia’s invasion. This position has been reaffirmed in numerous subsequent official statements by the UOC. Furthermore, the UOC is fully autonomous and independent of the ROC, as reflected in its Statute adopted at the UOC Council on May 27, 2022. The UOC's faithful sons and daughters sacrifice their lives daily defending Ukraine on the front lines. Despite all this, the UOC is subjected to widespread persecution: with government complicity, and often through violent means, around 1,500 UOC churches have been seized. Clergy and believers have been assaulted, documents falsified, and illegal takeovers of church property committed.

The UOJ appealed to the pontiff to ensure that the bishops of the RCC and UGCC withdraw their "approval" of the UOC ban. They also called for Vitaliy Kryvytskyi to issue an official apology to the Primate and faithful of the UOC.

As previously reported by the UOJ, representatives of the Vatican in Ukraine have undermined the authority of Pope Francis.

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