| Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in Rome for Jubilee Pilgrims from the Eparchy of Mukachevo (May 12, 2025) |
In his audience with Eastern Catholics in Rome for the Jubilee:
I would also like to mention Pope Leo XIII, the first Pope to devote a specific document to the dignity of your Churches, inspired above all by the fact that, in his words, “the work of human redemption began in the East” (cf. Apostolic Letter Orientalium Dignitas, 30 November 1894).
At the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, opinions in the West were virtually unanimous in condemning the Russian attack and supporting aid to Ukraine. As the war continues, however, dissonant voices have emerged on the conservative side. They have alleged that Russia’s attack was not a pure act of unprovoked aggression but was motivated by legitimate security concerns, and that the military aid to the Ukrainians should cease. This position of some conservatives is a further burden and risk for the suffering Ukrainian nation which is fighting for its life. It is also – a much lesser consideration – a problem for conservatives and for many Catholics, who have given ear to this anti-Ukrainian stance or have even accepted and promoted it. The problem is a problem of moral integrity and moral credibility. Those Catholics who have bought in to the anti-Ukrainian line have lost both. It is for this reason that this anti-Ukrainian line needs to be addressed in a Catholic forum.
The case for this line depends on not addressing or mentioning essential facts. The best way to respond to it is to describe the main features of Russia’s goals and actions in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is the largest individual Eastern Church -- that is, the largest after our own Latin Church. And it is truly a Martyr-Church: Russia has tried to destroy it once and again, under Tsarism and under Communism, but it has remained truthful to Catholicity.
For Ukrainian Greek-Catholics, it would be "easy" to become "Orthodox": there is no difference of rite. But what they do have is an indissoluble loyalty to the Roman See: each martyr of the bloody history of the Church, millions of them, had the same spine as Saint Thomas More or Saint John Fisher -- loyalty to the Catholic Faith and to idea and reality of Rome, Mother of all Churches.
This Wednesday, the University founded and supported by the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) released a formal document of its Senate and Rectorate explaining to Christians all over the world what is going on. And they do represent faithfully the view of all Ukrainian Catholics, at home and in the diaspora.
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To Reject The Deeds Of Darkness
Open letter of the Senate and the Rectorate of Ukrainian Catholic University to the Christian Communities of the World
WEDNESDAY, 23 MARCH, 2022
With the beginning of a new phase of the latest Russian-Ukrainian war, Ukrainians invariably recognize themselves in the pages of Scripture in the twists and turns of biblical history. Under the Putin regime, they recognize: “for they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty” (Revelation 16:14), and they find hope in David’s victory over Goliath. (1 Samuel 17: 1–52).
| Ex Oriente Lux |
“Harmonizing Ukrainian legislation with the European one, we quickly adopt the diseases of the Western society. In European legislation I see no mention of the Christian roots of the culture. We are mistaken if we think that in order to have European prosperity we need to come down with these illnesses,”
He said that in today's society, which does not live according to God's commandments, there are different ideas of morality and values. Often in the name of so-called tolerance, says the head of the church, life is destroyed, which, conversely, must be protected.
“Among the requirements of the European community are pseudo-values. The EU looks like a teenager who is testing the limits of morality and needs a Christian education. Europe was built not on same-sex marriages, but on the respect for human dignity, the protection of human rights and freedoms, on honesty in politics and business. On these foundations Europe arose, but it has forgotten about it. These are the values which today the church defends in our society. When it comes to the protection of life from its natural beginning to natural end, then it is the basis for the opposition to euthanasia, abortion, and other acts that violate the dignity of life”...He refutes the assertion that if Ukraine adopts the law on gay marriage, then it will join the European community. “I can affirm that it is not so. Sometimes our legislators, so as to not implement other bills, implement ones like this. It is much easier for them in Europe and in Ukraine to vote against the traditional family than against corruption, the unfair judicial system that tolerates selective justice. They focus on minor issues so as to not solve the main ones.”