American priest: Vatican is sidelining Uniates for good relations with ROC

Pope Francis and the head of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk

The Catholic clergyman states relations between the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) and the Holy See have been frayed in recent years, reports Sedmitsa.

According to Fr. Raymond J. de Souza, the Uniates have found the Vatican’s support lacking “in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine in general and the UGCC in particular”.

Ukrainian Catholics believe that the Holy See wants to maintain good relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, which is strongly allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The consequence is that the Holy See does not protest too strongly against Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.

Fr. Raymond J. de Souza thinks that two events suggest that those frayed relations are not going to be repaired soon.

First, in five consistories for the creation of new cardinals, Pope Francis has passed over Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the UGCC and major archbishop of Kiev and Galicia. Shevchuk’s predecessors have all been cardinals dating back to the middle of the 20th century. Hence, Fr. Raymond concludes that the fact that Ukraine has been overlooked now five times in five years suggests that Ukrainian suffering resonates less in Rome than the objections of the Russian Orthodox, who regard the very existence of the UGCC as an affront.

The second sign that UGCC-Holy See relations are not on the mend took place when Pope Francis received a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Hilarion, the representative of Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow, for relations with other Churches.

During the meeting, Pope Francis gave an address that was warmly received and promoted by the Russian Orthodox. “I would like to reiterate that the Catholic Church will never allow an attitude of division to arise from her people,” Pope Francis said. “We will never allow ourselves to do this, I do not want it. In Moscow – in Russia – there is only one patriarchate: yours.” At the same time, Greek Catholics have repeatedly stated that they support the initiatives of the Ukrainian authorities to create the Single Orthodox Church in the country on the basis of the schismatics of the UOC KP and the UAOC.

“The Catholic Church, the Catholic Churches must not get involved in internal matters of the Russian Orthodox Church, nor in political issues,” Pope Francis said. “This is my attitude, and the attitude of the Holy See today. And those who meddle do not obey the Holy See.”

Fr. Raymond wonders who Pope Francis could have in mind? The Russian Orthodox certainly concluded that the Holy Father was speaking about the UGCC and Shevchuk. It is hard to think of any other plausible candidate given the current circumstances.

The American priest believes that such a state of things is part of the price demanded by the Moscow Patriarchate for a meeting with Pope Francis. That historic meeting took place in Havana in February 2016.

“The question is whether the new relationship between the Holy See and the Russian Orthodox will require ongoing strained relations between Catholics, namely the Holy See and the eastern Catholics of the UGCC. Recent events suggest that it will,” resumes the Catholic clergyman.

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