Kyiv, Ukraine, Jul 13, 2017 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Shortly after Pope Francis donated money to help those suffering from Ukraine’s ongoing conflict, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri arrived in the country, saying that while pained, he sees hope for the future.
In comments to local Catholic media after landing in Ukraine July 11, Cardinal Sandri recalled that when he made his first trip to the country several years ago, it was because “in this land was born and is growing, a great hope, a great vision of the future for this Christian country.”
“Today, unfortunately, I also bring pain for a country that ought to be the vanguard of peace in the life of Europe, but which instead is suffering, in all of it’s inhabitants, many deprivations and many victims of this situation,” he said, referring to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine’s eastern region.
Because of this, he said, “I also come with a desire for hope for life and a great future of this beloved country.”
Cardinal Sandri, Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Oriental Churches, is currently on an official July 11-17 visit to Ukraine to participate in the national Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Zarvanytsia.
He offered his comments to Zhyve TV, which is the Catholic TV Station of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, after his arrival.
His visit falls in the midst of ongoing upheaval in the country, largely the result of political instability and tensions surrounding the Russian invasion of their eastern region in 2014, which prompted a conflict that has endured three years, claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions of others.
Conflict erupted in Ukraine in November 2013, when the former government refused to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union, leading to months of violent protests.
Tensions deepened in February 2014, when the country’s former president was ousted following the protests, and a new government appointed. In March of that year, Ukraine’s eastern peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia and pro-Russian separatist rebels have since taken control of eastern portions of Ukraine, around Donetsk and Luhansk.
Fighting continues, with more casualties reported daily. More than 10,000 people, including civilians, have died in the fighting between Ukraine’s military and pro-Russian separatists. Roughly two million others have been forced to flee due to violence and a lack of basic humanitarian necessities, and those who remain lack access to food, heating and medical supplies.
Last April Pope Francis announced that he would be taking up a special collection in all European churches in order to provide relief from those who are still suffering. In December 2016, the Pope made an initial donation of 6 million euros from the funds collected, asking that it be distributed to different charitable projects.
In his comments to Zhyve TV, Cardinal Sandri said it was “an immense joy” for him to be back in the country after three previous visits, including one with St. John Paul II.
“I come particularly because I was invited to the celebration of the Madonna of Zarvanytsia, so I come to bring to her, the Queen of Ukraine, all the veneration we have for her in the Roman Church, but which we know summarizes the Marian identity of the Ukrainian people,” he said.
The cardinal also offered to Archbishsop Shevchuk and all bishops and faithful in Ukraine, “the greeting, blessing and closeness of the Pope, Francis.”
After his arrival, Sandri traveled to the capital city of Kyiv alongside the Vatican’s nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, and Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of the Greek-Catholic Church in Ukraine.
While there, he had a moment of silent prayer in front of the Cross of Maiden Square, where he laid flowers in honor of those who lost their lives during the bloody riots of 2014.
From there, he visited the Museum of the Holodomor, making a symbolic gesture in memory of the more than 100 victims.
On Wednesday, July 12, which marks the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on the Giulian calendar, he will participate in the Pontifical Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Resurrection, offering the homily. After, he is expected to pray at the tomb of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, Marjor Archbishop Emeritus of Kyiv-Halych and former head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, who died May 31.
Later, the cardinal will hold a meeting with seminarians before leaving for the central-eastern city of Kharkiv, where he will visit the local Caritas.
The next day, July 13, Cardinal Sandri will take part in the Divine Liturgy at the cathedral of the Exharkate of Kharkiv before heading to lunch with priests and various other guests.
He is then expected to meet with the Bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Nicodemus. In the afternoon he will travel roughly 124 miles to Kramatorsk, where on Friday morning he will celebrate Mass and meet with the local bishops and priests of Donesk.
After paying a visit to the local Caritas and a community center, Sandri is scheduled to stop in the town of Sloviansk, where he will meet with several individuals who have been internally displaced by the conflict.
On Saturday, July 15, the cardinal will hold a meeting with the Greek-Catholic Metropolitan Bishop Volodymr Viytyshyn before joining the annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Zarvanytsia.
That night, as part of the pilgrimage, Sandri will lead a special meeting with young people before leading a reflection at the close of the procession of candles.
Cardinal Sandri will then preside over Mass Sunday before traveling to Lviv, where he is scheduled to visit the Greek-Catholic Cathedral Saint George and pray at the tombs of Metropolitan Bishop Andrey Sheptytsky and of Cardinal Joseph Slipyj, heads and fathers of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church for a large portion of the 20th century.
He will then hold a brief meeting with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lviv, Mieczys?aw Mokrzycki, before heading back to Rome.
According to the website of the apostolic nunciature in Ukraine, Pope Francis has, through Cardinal Sandri, offered all Catholic and Orthodox faithful in Ukraine, his personal greeting and blessing.
The Pope also expressed his “affection and closeness to the population for the sufferings and deprivations they have and are enduring during the well known conflict,” and encouraged those working for peace and reconciliation, as well as those engaged in assisting the displaced.
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There is something I don’t understand. I mean the logic in this affair is somehow strange: this student was supposedly discriminated against because he didn’t receive the homework pass other students obtained for participating in the choir, which led his mother to feel “punished” for being atheists. But I think they took the issue from a distorted point of view: when someone is rewarded for doing something, it’s meant to congratulate and encourage this person, not to punish the others who couldn’t do the same thing. For exemple, nobody would say that rewarding children for participating in a charity cake sale is discriminatory against other children who don’t like cakes or sweets and therefore would not participate. This doesn’t mean that these children don’t have interests in other fields where they can succeed. It’s the same here. This is a Catholic school, thus it’s normal for it to promote religious events. And it’s worth mentioning that the rewarded students were not given extra grades or exam pass, they were only given a homework pass. In a normal situation, a student would have homework to do, so students who didn’t participate were pursuing a normal school life, no more no less. They weren’t “punished”, nothing was taken away from them, but I understand that a child might feel sad about this. Nevertheless, this is not a discrimination (it has become the privileged victimizing word nowadays). In addition, this child is certainly not the first atheist student in this school, and it’s clearly not the first religious event promoted by the school. If I were to be in a Muslim school, and students who fasted during Ramadan were rewarded, I wouldn’t label it discriminatory, because it’s the school’s identity. Even though maybe I would have used a different way to promote this event (like giving some little valuable Catholic gifts), what has been done here is definitely not an unfair treatment. I believe the true problem is the growing demand for secularizing Catholic schools, which is disrespectful towards their identity. This can be seen in the mother’s refusal to accept the money (for a commendable reason at first sight), hoping that the ruling itself will have an impact (hinting that her aim was not confined to this very situation). The usual tactic of aiming at people’s feelings is widely used here, when she alleges that the school does not seem to accept that they have a different set of beliefs, or that it punishes them for not being Catholics. With this, she can definitely bring the case on her side (it has shown its effectiveness in countless other cases). This is a pretty sad reality.
This shows the idiocy of the parents and at last a school that is Catholic. We now have a situation where children in Catholic families who practice and attend Mass are now subject to bullying by children like this pupil. Teachers have noticed this and was covered at a governmental inquiry. But of course it won’t come to anything except that these children are following the way of the Master and their parents should rejoice. It it was associated with the rainbow brigade you would see the bullied dealt with immediately!!! Nevertheless, to those who suffer, rejoice your names are in theBook of Life👼