EU Catholic bishops outline what peace in Ukraine should look like
The Presidency of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union. Photo: Vatican News
On 4 March 2025, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) issued a statement expressing strong support for Ukraine and efforts to achieve a "a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace", reports the Vatican News.
Amid deepening geopolitical complexities and the unpredictability of actions taken by some members of the international community, the Presidency of COMECE calls on the European Union and its Member States to remain united in their commitment to supporting Ukraine and its people.
The Catholic hierarchs state that peace in Ukraine can only be achieved through negotiations, and “credible and sincere dialogue effort should be supported by continued strong transatlantic and global solidarity and it must involve the victim of the aggression: Ukraine".
COMECE firmly reject any attempts to distort the reality of this aggression and stresses that any peace agreement must be underpinned by effective security guarantees to prevent the conflict from re-erupting, reports the Vatican News.
They also highlight the importance of ensuring that "the rights of all communities, including the Russian-speaking minority, are upheld and protected."
In their view, the international community must continue to assist Ukraine in the reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure, while Russia, as the aggressor, must adequately participate in this effort. They also call on the EU “to advance with the enlargement process in a timely and fair manner alongside other candidate countries”.
"As the contours of a new global security architecture are currently being redrawn," COMECE states, “it is our profound hope that the European Union will remain faithful to its vocation to be a promise of peace and an anchor of stability to its neighborhood and to the world."
As previously reported by the UOJ, the head of the SBU claimed that the European Union had imposed sanctions against the UOC.
Read also
U.S. bishops call for Church unity on Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
The Assembly of Bishops of the USA has issued an encyclical for the Triumph of Orthodoxy on Church unity, veneration of icons, and support for pan-Orthodox ministry.
OCU organizes harassment of businessman for aiding UOC
Hryshchuk called for boycotting the business of the entrepreneur who built a UOC church in the Rivne region.
Head of Lavra Reserve: I believe UOC monks will move to the OCU
Ostapenko said there are 140 UOC monks and novices on the territory of the Lower Lavra.
"Shield of Judah": Biblical name given to operations against Iran
A joint Israeli–US military operation against Iran has received a code name referencing the biblical forefather of the Jewish royal line.
In Syria, Islamic militants behead statues of Christ and Virgin Mary
Vandals beheaded statues of the Lord and the Mother of God at the entrance to the "Cave of the Virgin Mary" in the village of Al-Basiya near the coastal city of Banias in Syria.
Icon with particle of Gabriel Urgebadze's relics to be brought to Uzhhorod from Georgia
The holy icon, painted in Georgia, will be brought to the Holy Trinity Church of the Mukachevo Eparchy of the UOC.