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During his visit to Ukraine the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches will meet with all groups of the Church community of the UGCC

09.07, [14:57] // Press-releases // Taras_H



The visit of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, to Ukraine will start with a press-conference which will take place on July 10, at 17.30 at the Metropolitan Chambers on Saint George�s Hill in Lviv (accreditation will be on site upon presentation of press credentials). This will be preceded at 15.40 by a meeting of the honored guest with representatives of Church and state authorities at the Lviv airport and a visit to the Cathedral of Saint George and the crypt.

The next day until lunch Cardinal Sandri is planned to visit the Lviv seminary, where he will meet with seminarians of the five seminaries of the UGCC in Ukraine. After lunch the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches will visit the Ukrainian Catholic University. On Saturday morning at the Lavra [Major Monastery] of the Holy Dormition in Univ, Cardinal Sandri will meet with 200 members of monastic orders and communities of the UGCC. The same day, at 18.00, the guest from the Vatican and persons accompanying him will arrive at Zarvanytsya (Ternopil Region) to participate in the all-Ukrainian pilgrimage to the miraculous site of the appearance of the Most Holy Mother of God. There Cardinal Sandri will meet with youth.

The center of the visit of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches will be a solemn Divine Liturgy on Sunday July 13 in Zarvanytsya. It will be concelebrated with bishops of the UGCC, the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, numerous priests, and His Beatitude Lubomyr, the Head of the UGCC. A sermon will be given by the Head of the UGCC, and Cardinal Sandri will talk at the end of the Liturgy. Another meeting of the honored guest will take place after the Divine Liturgy, this time with priests. By the way, each such meeting has a similar scenario: presentation of the participants and the places of conducting the meeting, a speech of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, and exchange of opinions. That evening, the guest will fly to Kyiv, where on Monday are planned meetings with the state authorities, and, after lunch, with the intelligentsia. On Tuesday July 15, the last date of his visit, Cardinal Sandri will visit the building of the Patriarchal Center of the UGCC in the capital of Ukraine and, after a farewell lunch in the suburban residence of the Head of the UGCC, he will fly to Rome.

"Cardinal Sandri visited Ukraine for the first time in 2001 when he accompanied Pope John Paul II during his visit to our country. He knows Ukrainians in Argentina (Cardinal Sandri was born in Argentina), but he does not know Ukraine well. Therefore, right when he became the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, we invited him to the all-Ukrainian pilgrimage to Zarvanytsya. We understood consequently that on this occasion it is worth organizing his visits to other places, so that he could meet with various groups of the Church�s communities." So His Beatitude Lubomyr spoke about the visit of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.



Information Department of the UGCC



Biographical Information



Cardinal Leonardo Sandri was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on November 18, 1943, to a family of Italian immigrants.

After completing philosophical and theological education, he received a licentiate in theology from the Catholic University of Argentina.

He was ordained a priest on December 2, 1967.

Being for some time the personal secretary of the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, in 1970 he was sent to study canon law in Rome, at the Pontifical University Gregorianum, from which he graduated with a doctorate in canon law.

In 1971 he was called to the Papal Ecclesiastical Academy to take courses intended for diplomats of the Holy See. In 1974 he was appointed attache of the Apostolic Nunciature in Madagascar and Mauritania. In 1977 he was transferred to the Vatican Secretariat of State, remaining there 12 years as a secretary of the substitute in general matters of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

In 1989 he was sent as the Adviser of the Apostolic Nuncio in the United States of America. On August 26, 1991, he was appointed the Regent of the Prefecture of the Apostolic Palace.

In 1997 he was appointed the Apostolic Nuncio to Venezuela, receiving episcopal ordination on October 11, 1997. In March 2000, the Holy Father appointed him the Apostolic Nuncio in Mexico, where he stayed until September 15, 2000, when Pope John Paul II on the occasion of the Anniversary of Papal Representatives appointed him as the substitute in general matters of the Vatican Secretariat of State. During his service in this position he took part in the preparation of apostolic trips to various countries of the world. Particularly awaited and important for the Eastern Catholic Churches were trips to Greece, Syria, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Slovakia and Croatia, with John Paul II, and to Turkey with Benedict XVI.

On June 9, 2007, His Holiness Benedict XVI appointed him Prefect of Congregation for the Oriental Churches. At the Consistory on November 24, 2007, the Holy Father elevated him to the rank of Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.



� Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, 2008

Just wondering what the source of the press release is: RCC?

Does this mean that only the Pope alone can decide to create a Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate?

C. I. X.

Is not the Pope a Patriarch? Did not Ukraine ask?

Maybe it's all part of the pox Romana!

Fr. Serge

So does this mean that only the Pope can create a patriarchate for Ukrainian Catholics and because he chooses not to do so, there is no Ukrainian patriarch?

We find in Church History that a Patriarchate always comes into being by way of custom, and recognition follows, rather than precedes, this process.

For the moment, the situation is that the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and some of the Local Churches with whom she is in communion use the title of Patriarch for the Chief Hierarch of this Church. Similarly, the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church use the title of Catholicos for the Chief Hierarch of their Church.

Fr. Serge

Unfortunately, Rome still needs to be convinced of that. At present, all too many "conservative" Catholics think that the Catholic Church was as centralized in the first millennium as it is now.

Since in all these centuries Rome has never once created any Eastern Patriarchate - they have all come about as described in my previous post - there isn't much convincing necessary.

Fr. Serge

Is it not so different as the decades it took for such patriarchates as Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia to be recognized by other Churches?

Forgive my ignorance here...

But hasn't there always been a Patriarchate of Kyiv? Isn't there also some question of the legitimacy of the transfer to Moscow of the Kyivian Patriarchate?

If so, then by moving to Kyiv, did not Patriarch Lubomyr simply assume his proper role and title?

BTW, I disagree with the Cardinal on this one. It is quite out of the ordinary purview of Rome to decide such things, although they may defer an official, public "reception" of the title.

I can only guess that Moscow has taken the "nuclear" posture regarding this. Any act of official recognition by Rome derails all of the official ecumenical efforts between Rome and Moscow.

Nevertheless, I will continue to commemorate Patriarch Lubomyr qua Patriarch as I offer the litanies.

God bless,

Fr. Deacon Daniel

(1) I think there was a Metropolitanate of Kyiv, not a Patriarchate until it was "transferred" to Moscow.

(2) Cardinal Sandri is right. As Prefect of the Oriental Congregation, he should know by heart the provisions of the CCEO which clearly provides that the erection and/or suppression of patriarchates in the Catholic Church belongs solely to the Pope.

Of course, the UGCC may assert that she has all the powers to proclaim herself as a patriarchate and awaits the recognition of other Churches, particularly the Orthodox, but this tact cannot be achieved within the Catholic communion of Churches. The UGCC should then be ready and willing to sever her ties with Rome!

Amado

If this all were something more than Ostpolitik Rome would have given the Synod clear directive that he was not to be commeorated or spoken of as Patriarch.

In fact this has been done publically in front of two Pontiffs without reproach (actually three Pontiffs - I believe Patriarch Josyp was also commemorated as such before Paul VI).

And it does not comfort me that I should be expected to simply assume a Latin bishop of a Roman dicastery knows aspects of Eastern canonical practice in detail. Past history has not exactly proven that assumption.

Amadeus,

I disagree that the Synod of the UGCC, by asserting its legitimate place as an autonomous and patriarchal Church within the Catholic communion, is weakening its ties (or should thereby sever such ties) with Rome. The concerns here on the part of Rome have, as far as I can tell, little to do with the welfare of the UGCC and are purely "ecumenical" and "political" in nature. It is a question of the "opportune" time to recognize such a thing - "opportune" as defined by the periodically hostile (to the existence of Eastern Catholics, that is) Moscow Patriarchate.

As Fr. Serge has pointed out, Rome has never in history "established" a Byzantine/Eastern patriarchate, despite whatever the CCEO may assert. If Rome decides to recognize the Patriarchate that in fact exists legitimately in Kyiv, IMHO that is its own business.

For my part, I will continue to commemorate Patriarch Lubomyr.

God bless!

Fr. Deacon Daniel

I think you are right. Despite all the protest to the contrary, the Ukrainian Catholic Church is C-a-t-h-o-l-i-c
In the Catholic Church, the office of patriarch is nowhere near the same as in the Orthodox Churches. Patriarch is a largely honorary title in the Catholic Church, not a title of authority equal to that of the pope. Now that may wound the pride of some UGCC members, but I think you have just stated fact, Amado. Then there's the matter of relations with the ROC. The Russian Patriarch would go ballistic if Pope Benedict either granted or affirmed the title of patriarch for the UGCC, despite the fact that the current UGCC leader is certainly deserving of the title and more.

An Eastern Catholic Patriarch is not some sort of mini-Pope - and neither is he the bearer of some high-sounding honorific. The Patriarch enjoys quite significant - indeed, unique - canonical authority, and overwhelming moral authority.

The high-sounding honorific belongs to such men as the Patriarch of Venice, the Patriarch of Lisbon, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and other such decorative "Patriarchs".

Fr. Serge