Archbishop Kurtz: Ukraine’s religious liberty threatened by ‘invasive actions’

The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops asked Catholic parishes around the country to pray for a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis, Catholic Culture informs.

“The heroic witness of Ukrainian Greek and Latin Catholic leaders, who stand firm for human rights and democracy, gives us hope that peaceful means might prevail to help rebuild civil society,” said Archbishop Kurtz of Louisville.

“Over the centuries, Catholics in Ukraine have been severely persecuted, and Catholicism even outlawed,” he added. “For this reason, we raise our voice in defense of religious liberty in Ukraine, a liberty further threatened by the invasive actions occurring in the country”-- an evident reference to Russian military intervention in Crimea.

“I ask US Catholic communities, gathering for the beginning of Lent on Wednesday, to pray for a peaceful resolution of this crisis, one that secures the just and fundamental human rights of a long-suffering, oppressed people,” he concluded.