In the international arena, the UGCC speaks to world leaders advocating for the Ukrainian people: His Beatitude Sviatoslav
Heads of state and public leaders worldwide need to hear the voice of the Ukrainian people. And we are not speaking on behalf of any political structure but on behalf of our faithful. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said this in an interview with the online publication Ukrayinska Pravda.
The Primate noted that the UGCC is a global community of people that goes beyond the Ukrainian world community.
“And thus, we are trying to use all our contacts today to ensure that Ukraine wins every day,” he said.
Historically, the spiritual leader emphasized that the leaders of the UGCC were not merely representatives of a purely ecclesiastical structure but also the voice of the Ukrainian people. For the first time, the title of ethnarch was given to our righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. He was the voice of the embodiment of Ukrainianness at a time when we did not have our own state.
“Patriarch Yosyf Slipyj implemented a similar strategy in his ministry during the Cold War, when the Ukrainian people were in Soviet slavery… Thus, our Church has a definite institutional memory of how to conduct international relations,” he added.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav gave an example of how, a few months ago, he had the opportunity to meet with the heads of governments of various European countries: “I was personally in the building of the European structures at the time when the European Commission announced its decision to start negotiations with Ukraine on our accession to the European Union. I can’t elaborate, but there were interesting and useful meetings before and after this decision. What was interesting is that despite being in the same room simultaneously with our foreign minister, our paths did not intersect, and we did not see each other. But each of us was fulfilling our mission for the greater good of the Ukrainian people.”
The spiritual leader also underscored that our partners, listening to representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, want to hear them and respond accordingly, although to confirm the accuracy of the statements made by the authorities.
The Primate recounted his meeting with Mr. George Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy: “I understood that she was well aware of Ukrainian authorities’ stance. And she expressed interest in people’s experiences, what ordinary people think, how they see things…”.
The UGCC Department for Information
