"This appointment gives me responsibility for the life and future of our entire Church. Knowing what difficult times our Ukrainian people are going through because of the war, I will continue to inform the Catholic world about what is happening on our land and will constantly remind them of Ukraine."
This was stated by Cardinal-nominee Mykola Bychok, sharing his reaction to the appointment with the press service of the Melbourne Diocese of the UGCC.
“For me, as for many others, this news came as a great surprise,” said Bishop Mykola, upon receiving the news of his appointment, ”I am certainly excited because this appointment is a great privilege. This is not a privilege granted to me personally, but a privilege granted by Pope Francis to the entire Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Catholic Church in Australia. I will strive to follow the worthy example of my predecessors, the cardinals: Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyi, who, having been released after 18 years in the Soviet Gulag and moved to Rome, became the voice of our Church in the free world and, using various forums, emphasized the persecution of the Churches in the USSR and called for more radical actions to protect the rights of believers; His Beatitude Myroslav-Ivan Cardinal Lubachivsky, who returned to lead the Church in Ukraine despite his advanced age and physical infirmity, and created structures and institutions that helped our Church move from persecution to freedom; His Beatitude Lubomyr Cardinal Husar, thanks to whom the UGCC, after coming out of the underground and reviving in western Ukraine, returned the seat of the Supreme Archbishop of the Church from Lviv to Kyiv, launching the active development of the UGCC in the center, east and south of Ukraine.”
Bishop Mykola also mentioned his predecessor in Australia: “Cardinal George Pell, who achieved so much in Australia and Rome and, despite all the accusations and trials, was faithful to God to the end.”
The newly appointed Cardinal said that this position entrusts him with a great responsibility for the life and future of the entire Church.
“It is also a great responsibility to the Catholic Church in Australia, where faith is gradually being lost and secularization is spreading. I see these challenges and I ask the Lord to guide me on this path and help me to accept and respond to them with dignity,” the bishop added.
In conclusion, Bishop Mykola said: “Recognizing this great responsibility, I ask everyone to pray for me so that the Lord will give me the strength to fulfill the vocation entrusted to me by the Holy Church with dignity!”
As reported previously, on October 6, 2024, Pope Francis announced that on December 8, he would hold a consistory on the occasion of the ordination of new cardinals. The list included Bishop Mykola Bychok, Bishop of Melbourne of the UGCC from Australia.
“Our Church rejoices because it will have another bishop who, in addition to the head of the Church, will competently speak to the Pope and defend our Church and the people of Ukraine,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav commented on the appointment.
According to the press service of the Melbourne Diocese, Bishop Mykola Bychok will be the only cardinal for the UGCC and the Catholic Church in Australia. Since the Melbourne Diocese of the UGCC covers not only Australia but also New Zealand and Oceania, the Melbourne Bishop will be one of the cardinals of Oceania, along with the cardinals in Wellington, Tonga, Port Moresby and Dili.
In the history of the UGCC, there were 6 bishops who were proclaimed cardinals: Metropolitan Isidore of Kyiv, who took an active part in the Uniate Council of Florence in 1448-1449 and was proclaimed a cardinal; Metropolitan Mykhailo Levytskyi (1774-1858), Metropolitan Sylvester Sembratovych (1836-1898), Patriarch Josyf Slipyi (1892-1984), Patriarch Myroslav-Ivan Lubachivsky (1914-2000), and Patriarch Lubomyr Husar (1933-2017).
In the history of the Catholic Church, there have been 7 cardinals in Australia, the last of whom, Cardinal George Pell, passed away in January 2023. Thus, Bishop Mykola Bychok will become the seventh cardinal in the history of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the 8th cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church in Australia.