Report: Pope May Announce Ukrainian Patriarchate

LVOV, Ukraine, May 28, 01 (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II may announce the elevation of the Ukrainian Catholic Church to the patriarchate during his visit to the country June 23-27, a local official said on Saturday.

Teodozy Yankiva, co-chair of the commission preparing the papal visit, told the Itar-Tass news service that the Ukrainian-rite major archdiocese of Lviv, currently led by Cardinal Lubamyr Husar, may become a full patriarchate, a major elevation for the Ukrainian Church.

The Catholic Church in Ukraine was banned by the Soviet Union in 1946 and all property was turned over to the Russian Orthodox Church and hundreds of priests were sent to gulags in Siberia. In 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Church was made legal again and has expanded to include all of Ukraine. Conflict with the Orthodox over the return of confiscated property and accusations of proselytism has led to disagreement, small levels of violence, and opposition by some to the papal visit.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow has opposed a papal visit and may regard the elevation of the Ukrainian Church as a rebuff to his calls for a restriction of the Catholic Church in the country and inhibit hopes for a future papal trip to Russia. The announcement would also complicate the already tense situation regarding the Orthodox Church in Ukraine with three groups vying for control including one supported by the Moscow Patriarchate and two breakaway, native Ukrainian groups.

Observers have also noted that Yankiva's announcement may be part of a subtle campaign to lobby the Pope to make the declaration, which Ukrainian Catholics have sought for many years, and that such a decision may not actually have been made already.

Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs
28. mai 2001