FIRST "AD LIMINA" VISIT FOR UKRAINIAN PRELATES OF LATIN RITE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 25, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received the bishops of the Ukrainian Catholic communities of the Latin rite on their first "ad limina" visit.

At the beginning of his speech, the Pope recalled the "witness of so many heroes of the faith who suffered persecution, and the courage of uncountable numbers of parents who continually passed on the love for the Gospel to their children."

Having encouraged the bishops to maintain "a deep apostolic missionary zeal," he urged their communities to be "full of life and fervor, that they might be united to their pastors and directed at evangelization. You can thus look towards the future with trust and undertake in an ever better way your mission in the beloved land of Ukraine."

The Pope said that, having overcome difficulties of recent years, the bishops now must concern themselves with providing their communities with sacred buildings. "Many parish churches and chapels have been reopened for worship, and there are now three seminaries."
"In your country, you show the richness of the Catholic Church through the variety of her ritual expressions: the Byzantine tradition, the Latin one, with the numerically limited contribution of Armenia. ... The Church can be proud of this plurality in unity."

"May the specific difficult religious situation in your country," exhorted the Pope, "not discourage you in the constant search for paths of dialogue, reciprocal understanding and, as far as is possible and fitting, concrete means of cooperation. An attentive and courageous missionary zeal will be useful for you so that the barriers raised by the desolating oppression of 70 years of militant atheism will fall."

Lastly, referring to ecumenism, he emphasized the importance of "the preaching and witness of followers of Christ in Ukrainian society. Families, fragile in unity and in the respect for life, need it, the weakest need it, particularly children, who are often abandoned; society needs it; ... young people seek it, who desire new hope and concrete ideals for which they can commit their lives."

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