BACKGROUND ON THE CATHOLIC AND ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN UKRAINE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 23, 2001 (VIS) - For every papal trip abroad, Vatican Radio prepares a book on the country that Pope John Paul will visit. These books include historical background, information on the civil and leading ecclesiastical authorities and information on the Church in that country. For the Holy Father's trip to Ukraine, information on both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches was detailed.

Over 97 percent of the religious communities now registered in Ukraine are Christian and about half of these communities are of the Orthodox tradition. The other half is divided among Catholics and Protestants. According to state legislation, the three major Orthodox jurisdictions and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church belong to the category "traditional Churches." There are also Jews, Moslems and believers of other faiths in 21st Century Ukraine.

The three major Orthodox jurisdictions in Ukraine are: 1. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, which has 9049 communities, most of which are located in central and southeastern Ukraine; 2. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kievan Patriarchate, which has 2781 communities, of which about a third are in the central regions and about 10 percent in southeastern areas; 3. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which has 1015 communities, of which about 80 percent are located in western Ukraine.

The two major Catholic Churches represented in Ukraine are the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church with 3317 communities, the vast majority of which are located in western Ukraine, and the Roman Catholic Church with 807 communities, of which more than half are in the central regions.

There is also the Armenian Catholic Church which has a community which was reconstituted in Lviv.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church comprises Catholics of the Byzantine rite, known as Greek Catholics, who are heirs of the Union of Brest of 1596, which the hierarchy of the Kievan Metropolia established with the Church of Rome. The 20th century was a stormy one for this Church, and she was led through it by some of her greatest leaders. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was liquidated by Stalin's regime and forcibly "re-united" with the Russian Orthodox Church after World War Two. Regardless of the fact that it was officially forbidden and harshly persecuted, this Church preserved its hierarchical structures in the underground and diaspora, and in December 1989 it requested official legalization. Cardinal Lubomyr Husar is the present head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which has 3317 communities, 79 monasteries, 1168 monks and nuns, 1872 priests, 2777 churches, and 305 churches are being built.

Catholics of the Latin rite are members of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, whose hierarchical structures in the past were spread over those Ukrainian lands which became incorporated into neighboring Catholic nations. After these territories were joined to the USSR, the Soviet power liquidated the diocesan network of the Roman Catholics, deporting and repressing a significant portion of its clergy and faithful. Only about one hundred parishes remained under the severe government control. Since Ukrainian independence many parishes have re-opened and new parishes have been formed. Cardinal Marian Jaworski is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lviv. There are 807 communities, 50 monasteries, 309 monks and nuns, 431 priests, 713 churches and
74 churches are being built.

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