On November 5 the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) Sviatoslav Shevchuk met with the head of the Polish delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of Ukraine and Poland, the Deputy Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland Cezary Grabarczyk, Ambassador of Poland to Ukraine Henryk Litwin, Ambassador of Ukraine to Poland of Markian Malskyy, and deputy of the Polish Sejm Myron Sych.
The participants discussed the prospects of European integration of Ukraine and the Ukrainian-Polish cooperation, as well as the prospects of bilateral cooperation in the cultural sphere.
The chair of the Polish delegation to the Interparliamentary Assembly of Ukraine and Poland praised the contribution of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to Ukrainian-Polish relations on the principles of Christian neighborliness and cooperation. A special testament to this he said is that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland signed a joint declaration of reconciliation and forgiveness in Warsaw. He called this a significant event in the life of Ukrainian and Polish nations.
He also expressed the hope that in the future such cooperation will develop so that there may be a common witness for the European community to remember the importance of our common Christian roots as the basis of social life. This idea was supported by both ambassadors.
Patriarch Sviatoslav said that we are willing to accept all the good that the European community has and share their positive achievements. He also stressed the importance of the religious sphere in social life, particularly in the formation of the moral foundations of society and the need for the state to understand this fact.
“A partnership between church and state with absolute respect for the constitutional principle of the separation of the two institutions is the way to building a just, prosperous, and spiritually rich society of the future,” he said.