Head of UGCC Commences Working Visit to Brussels
From November 7 to 10, His Beatitude Sviatoslav will be fulfilling a working visit to Brussels (Belgium). The visit takes place at the invitation of Archbishop Mariano Crociat, President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (COMECE), to participate in the General Assembly of this organization and meetings at the level of the European Commission. The focal point of the visit of the Head of the UGCC is to convey the voice of the Ukrainian people about Ukraine’s European integration intentions to the church and state institutions of the European Union.
Representatives of the Ukrainian community in Belgium, led by Fr Ivan Danchevsky, greet the Head of the UGCC at the airport in Brussels
On November 7, the Head of the UGCC will meet with Fr Manuel Barrios Prieto, General Secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe; Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement; Michael Siebert, Executive Director for Eastern Europe; Archbishop Noel Traynor, Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union; and Klaus Welle, former Secretary-General of the European Parliament.
On November 8, His Beatitude Sviatoslav will meet with the leadership of the Conference of the Churches of Europe (COMECE) and members of the European Parliament. The first session of the COMECE General Assembly will begin in the afternoon.
On the same day, at 19:30, on the occasion of the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, His Beatitude Sviatoslav will preside over the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in the Ukrainian parish of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Ghent.
On Thursday, November 9, the Head of the UGCC will deliver a report on the war in Ukraine, its impacts, and the role of the Church in the context of war at the COMECE General Assembly.
