"Certain statements of yours are painful for the Ukrainian people": the bishops of the UGCC visited the Pope in the Vatican. Photo

Bishops of the UGCC Synod met with Pope Francis at the Vatican. The clergymen met on September 6 during a private audience. The conversation was so frank that the UGCC hierarchs expressed the suffering of the Ukrainian people and rebuked the Pope for his recent words regarding the "greatness of the Russians."

This is discussed on the website of the UGCC. As Blessed Sviatoslav, head and father of the UGCC, noted, the meeting was a time of mutual listening and an occasion for frank and sincere dialog (to see the photo, scroll to the end of the page).

The UGCC bishops asked Pope Francis to begin the meeting with a joint prayer for a just peace in Ukraine and for all "who at this moment are dying in our country at the hands of the Russian aggressor." The Pope thanked them for this and prayed the Lord's Prayer.

"In our conversation with His Holiness, we expressed everything that our faithful in Ukraine and throughout the world have entrusted us to convey to him. Our bishops spoke in Ukrainian, English, Portuguese and Italian," Blessed Sviatoslav said.

The bishops told the Pope that certain statements and gestures of "the Holy See and Your Holiness are painful and hard for the Ukrainian people, who are bleeding in these moments in the struggle for their dignity and independence."

They explained that Russian propaganda uses such misunderstandings to justify and support the murderous ideology of the "Russian world."

"Therefore, the faithful of our Church are sensitive to every word of Your Holiness as a universal voice of truth and justice," the bishops added.

The Pope explained his words.

"Returning from Mongolia, while talking to journalists, I said that the real pain is when the cultural heritage of some people undergoes "distillation" and is subjected to manipulation by a certain state power, as a result of which it turns into an ideology that destroys and kills. It is a great tragedy when such ideology breaks into the Church and replaces the Gospel of Christ. A separate pain of the Ukrainian people is the fact that you are questioning who the Pope is with. I want to assure you of my solidarity with you and my constant prayerful closeness. I am with the Ukrainian people" - he said and as a special gesture and symbol of closeness to the Ukrainian people brought an icon of the Virgin Mary, before which, as he noted, every day he prays for Ukraine.

The bishops, in turn, thanked Pope Francis for his constant support of Ukraine at the international level, his humanitarian actions, personal efforts for the release of prisoners, and the peacekeeping mission of the special papal envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zupi.

"These things, Your Holiness, testify to the suffering of our Church together with its people in the midst of the agelessness of the war caused by Russian aggression. As a priceless treasure, we place them in your hands with the hope that soon there will be a just peace in Ukraine," said the head of the UGCC and presented His Holiness with an icon of Jesus Christ rescued from the church in the village of Krasne, Zaporizhzhya region, which was burned by the Russians.

As OBOZREVATEL reported, Pope Francis has admitted that his recent comments about Russia, which Ukraine saw as praise for imperialism, were poorly worded. He said he only wanted to remind young Russians of the great cultural heritage without the political context.

As is well known, Pope Francis, during a teleconference with Russian youth on Aug. 25, expressed admiration for "great Russia" and urged citizens of that terrorist state to "never give up (their) heritage."

"You are the heirs of a great Russia: the great Russia of the saints, of the rulers, of the great Russia of Peter the Great, of Catherine the Great, of that empire - majestic, educated, of great culture and great humanity. Never give up this heritage," the Pontiff said.

As OBOZREVATEL wrote, it is noteworthy that shortly before the head of the Catholic Church Pope Francis called on the faithful to pray for Ukraine. He asked for a special prayer because "Ukraine has long suffered because of the war."

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