VATICAN CITY, JUN 3, 2004 (VIS) - This morning the Pope received Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, major archbishop of Lviv of the Ukrainians, with members of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.
After assuring him of his affection and prayers, "with my deepest admiration for the vitality of this Church and for the faithfulness which has characterized it throughout the centuries," the Holy Father affirmed: "Rich with heroic witnesses, even in the recent past, your church is involved in pastoral programs that enjoy generous collaboration and approval by the clergy and lay people for the effective work of evangelization, promoted by a climate of freedom that today is felt also in your country."
"For this reason," he continued, "I share your aspiration, well-founded in the canonical and conciliar discipline, to have full juridical and ecclesiastical configuration. I share this aspiration in prayer and also in suffering, waiting for the day established by God in which I will be able to confirm the mature fruit of your ecclesial development as successor of the apostle Peter. Meanwhile, as you well know, your request is being seriously studied, also in the light of the evaluations of other Christian Churches."
John Paul II urged that this hope not be an obstacle "to your apostolic courage or a reason to turn off or dampen the joy of the Holy Spirit which drives and spurs on Cardinal Husar, together with his brother bishops and priests, religious and the lay faithful to greater abandonment to proclaiming the Gospel and in the consolidation of your ecclesial tradition."
AC/GREEK-CATHOLIC CHURCH/HUSAR VIS 20040603 (270)
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