While attending the formation course for young bishops in the Vatican, during the traditional meeting with the Vicar of the Apostle Peter, seven bishops from Ukraine and two bishops from Canada addressed Pope Francis.
This was reported by the press service of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC.
“I am Bishop Maksym Ryabukha. I came from Donetsk, Ukraine. I am accompanied by six new bishops from Ukraine and two bishops from Canada,” Bishop Maksym Ryabukha began his address to Pope Francis on behalf of the Ukrainian hierarchs with these words.
First of all, the bishop expressed his gratitude for the number of bishops from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church present.
“We want to thank you for the fact that there are so many of us here today. This is a sign of hope the Church provides in these trying years. Our people feel this hope. I also thank you for this sign of life. After all, being young, we are among people with no obstacles or difficulties in communication. For example, this year I had to travel about 100 thousand kilometers to find and visit people, parishes, communities, all those whose voices I represent today,” he said.
“We also bring here the testimony of life,” continued the auxiliary bishop from Donetsk.
“You speak a lot about Ukraine, and we thank you for that, for you are one of the few voices the international community listens to. Thank you for all your efforts, not only verbally, but also for the efforts you make in silence, including those to free many of our prisoners. Among the latter were two released Redemptorist fathers who personally asked me to convey their words of gratitude to you,” the bishop said.
According to Bishop Maksym, the situation in Ukraine is very difficult, but the Church continues to live amid all the dramas of life.
“In particular, I came from the frontline area, and I do not feel that people are losing faith in God. On the contrary, many are looking for Him. At this moment, many people are asking questions of meaning, so the presence of faith and the Church becomes a huge support for them,” the bishop shared his testimony.
The Ukrainian bishops then presented Pope Francis with several gifts. The first one was an icon of the Mother of God of Zarvanytsia from a famous pilgrimage site.
“I am Bishop Teodor from Mukachevo. This is an icon that one of our chaplains found in a house destroyed by a missile. Today we brought it here, to the home of all Catholics,” Bishop Teodor Matsapula, Bishop of the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Diocese, said while presenting the gift.
“I will add only one thing: every time Your Holiness calls the entire Catholic Church to prayer, all of us here feel God's great help in the battle against evil,” Bishop Maksym Ryabukha concluded.
267 newly ordained bishops (with almost all of them ordained last year) from five continents gathered in Rome to take part in special training courses offered by various dicasteries of the Holy See from September 15 to 22.
The “September Meeting,” which has already become a tradition in the programming of the Roman Curia's activities, is gaining unprecedented significance this year: For the first time, a significant part of the working sessions at the Pontifical University Urbaniana is being shared by both the bishops participating in a course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches) and those participating in a similar training course organized by the Dicastery for Bishops.
In particular, the course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization involves 114 bishops, and the course organized by the Dicastery for Bishops' Affairs involves 153 participants. Among them are also 25 bishops of the Eastern Rite (the Dicastery is responsible for the Eastern Churches) and 5 newly ordained bishops who work in the Roman Curia.