28 UKRAINIAN MARTYRS BEATIFIED BEFORE 1 MILLION FAITHFUL

VATICAN CITY, JUN 27, 2001 (VIS) - Early this morning, John Paul II celebrated a private Mass in the archbishop's Palace of St. George and then travelled to Lviv's hippodrome where he presided over the divine liturgy in the Byzantine-Ukrainian rite. During the ceremony, at which an estimated 1 million faithful were present, he beatified Servants of God Mykola Carneckyj and 24 companions, martyrs (bishops, diocesan priests, religious and a lay person, killed between 1935 and 1973); Teodor Romza, bishop and martyr (1911 - 1947); Omeljan Kovc, priest and martyr (1884 - 1944) and Josaphata Hordashevska, co-founder of the Congregation of the servants of Mary Immaculate (1869 - 1919).

In his homily, the Pope recalled that most of the new blesseds, "sons and daughters of this glorious Church of Lviv of the Ukrainians, ... were killed in hatred of the Christian faith." Among them were bishops, priests, monks, nuns and lay people. "They were tested in many ways by the followers of the infamous Nazi and Communist ideologies."

"These brothers and sisters of ours," he went on, "are the representatives that are known out of a multitude of anonymous heroes ' men and women, husbands and wives, priests and consecrated men and women, young people and old ' who in the course of the twentieth century, the 'century of martyrdom', underwent persecution, violence and death rather than renounce their faith."

"How can we fail to recall the far-sighted and solid pastoral activity of the Servant of God, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi, whose cause of beatification is proceeding and whom we hope to see one day in the glory of the saints? We must refer to his heroic apostolic activity if we are to understand the humanly inexplicable fruitfulness of the Greek-Catholic Church of Ukraine during the dark years of persecution."

The Holy Father dwelt upon the fact that, along with these blesseds, "Christians of other confessions were also persecuted and killed on account of Christ. Their joint martyrdom is a pressing call for reconciliation and unity. This is the ecumenism of the martyrs and witnesses to faith, which indicates the path of unity to the Christians of the twenty-first century. May their sacrifice be a practical lesson of life for all." He added that it is necessary to "ask forgiveness of one another and forgive one another for the wounds inflicted and received, and unreservedly trust the renewing action of the Holy Spirit."

After encouraging priests, religious, seminarians, catechists and students of theology to follow the example of "these heroic witnesses to the Gospel," he requested those in charge to "give careful attention to the training of future priests and of those called to the consecrated life. ... On the one hand the value of celibacy for the kingdom of heaven ought to be emphasized, on the other the importance of the Sacrament of Matrimony with its connected responsibilities ought to be made clear."

John Paul II concluded by exhorting "all the Church's sons and daughters to seek with constant commitment an ever more genuine and profound knowledge of Christ. May the clergy be always eager to give serious evangelical and ecclesial formation to the laity."

Following Mass, the Pope travelled to the archiepiscopal Palace of St. George in Lviv where he had lunch with the Ukrainian Catholic bishops and members of his entourage.

At 5:45 p.m., the Holy Father is scheduled to travel to Lviv's international airport for the farewell ceremony. The papal flight is due to take off at 7 p.m. local time and to arrive in Rome after a three hour flight.

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