On Tuesday, November 18, a meeting took place at the Secretariat of State of the Holy See in the Vatican. Viktor Yelensky, the Head of the State Service on Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS), met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.
According to the DESS, the parties held an in-depth discussion about the most pressing issues related to state-church relations in Ukraine. Key topics included the return of religious buildings and property to their respective religious organizations, the involvement of clergy in national defense as military chaplains, and the potential for clergy to receive deferments from military service during mobilization.
Special attention was given to the implementation of the Law on the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Religious Organizations, as well as measures to prevent the exploitation of religion by Russian invaders.
The meeting also addressed the role of churches and religious organizations in resisting the aggressor, the participation of these organizations, particularly Catholic churches, in supporting vulnerable populations, military personnel and their families, displaced persons, and the injured.
Attending the meeting were Andrii Yurash, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta; Serhii Kozachevsky, First Secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine to the Holy See; Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher; and Oleksii Husiev, Chief Specialist of the Legal Support and Legal Analysis Department of the DESS. This working visit by the DESS delegation to the Vatican was supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.