PRESS CONFERENCE ON POPE'S PASTORAL VISIT TO UKRAINE

VATICAN CITY, MAY 25, 2001 (VIS) - Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, major archbishop of Lviv of the Ukrainians, and Cardinal Marian Jaworski, archbishop of Lviv of the Latins, participated this morning in a press conference at the Holy See Press Office on John Paul II's upcoming apostolic trip to Ukraine (June 23-27).

Cardinal Husar recalled that the birth of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, a "sui iuris" Church, dates back to 988 A.D. He said that this Church "lived in the catacombs for practically 43 years, that is from 1946 to 1989. ... In September 1989, ... approximately 250,000 people participated in a public manifestation and requested full legalization and rehabilitation of the Church."

"On November 20, 1989 the decree was signed allowing the registration of the Greek-Catholic communities" and Cardinal Lubachivsky, head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, returned to his see "after 46 years of forced absence."

"Today," the major archbishop of Lviv of the Ukrainians continued, "ten years after the official legalization of the Greek-Catholic Church in Ukraine, we have 9 eparchies (dioceses), and an exarchate, a major archbishop and 14 bishops, 2,278 priests, including 701 religious priests, 933 nuns, 3,467 communities, 5 seminaries, one theological academy, and between 5 and 5.5 million faithful. The Greek-Catholic Church is the second largest confession in Ukraine, after the Orthodox."

Cardinal Jaworski, archbishop of Lviv (Leopoli) of the Latins, recalled that "the archdiocese of Leopoli was created in 1375 on land of the so-called Red Russia, with the see in Halicz. Pope Leo XI, with a bull in 1412, ... decided to move the ecclesial structures to Leopoli. ... This city was the see of three metropolitans: of Latin, Greek-Catholic, and Armenian rite."
The archbishop of Lviv of the Latins recalled that "in 1945 the archdiocese had 1,079,108 faithful. After the Second World War ... and again in 1956, the faithful of the archdiocese of Lviv emigrated, primarily ... to the western part of Poland."

"The Soviet authorities," Cardinal Jaworski continued, "impeded the archbishop of Lviv from carrying out his pastoral ministry and the archdiocese lost all of its ecclesial structures."

Cardinal Jaworski emphasized that in 1991 "the Holy Father was able to reestablish the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Latin dioceses in Ukraine." Cardinal Jaworski, who was at that time apostolic administrator of Lubaczow, was named by the Pope as archbishop of Lviv. He added that "currently the archdiocese has approximately 260 churches, 60 native priests and 75 from Poland, serving approximately 300,000 believers."

Cardinal Husar was asked if there had been developments in relations with the Orthodox in Ukraine, such as there were in Greece. He responded that "the situation in Ukraine is quite complicated. In Greece there is one Orthodox Church but in Ukraine there are three or four Orthodox jurisdictions. The Holy Father will meet them all as they are all members of the Council of Churches and the encounter will take place in a neutral milieu."

"We have great hope," Cardinal Husar added, "that the presence of the Holy Father in Ukraine will help us in some way to 'sistemare,' to 'define' our relations with the Orthodox. These relations up to now have been correct but not warm."

The cardinal said that "a clear distinction must be made between the people and the hierarchy. The people are very desirous of meeting the Holy Father, whereas the hierarchy is more divided: some are favorable but others, those more closely linked to Russia, are contrary. There are some elements who have been trying to postpone, if not outright annul, the Pope's trip."

A journalist asked how Ukrainians are being informed about the Pope and his June trip, given that a recent survey indicated that 30 percent of the people were unaware that the Pope was about to visit. Cardinal Husar said they are using the radio and newspapers to inform the people. "The press has kept its promise to give news about the Pope and his trip, and the government has said it will be covered on television. This is the country's first encounter with this Catholic reality. We are hopeful this could be the start of the conversion of many people."

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