In his daily video message on the 83rd day of the war, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Head of the UGCC, expressed gratitude to the Congregation for Eastern Churches and personally to Cardinal Leonardo Sandri: "during the war, this part of the Roman Curia became the center of communion, help and fun for our church and Ukraine."
The UGCC Information Department has published the words of gratitude.
Patriarch Sviatoslav stressed that the gifts of international communion of the Ecumenical Church are extremely valuable for us: "we feel that we are not alone in our trouble, we have a large family of Christian peoples all over the world behind us."
During the war, the center of such communion, "help and comfort for our church and Ukraine," according to the head of the UGCC, was the Congregation for the Eastern Churches as part of the Roman Curia, through which the Ecumenical Bishop performs his ministry for the Eastern Catholic Churches.
The Head of the UGCC noted that the Congregation for Eastern Churches organized "extensive assistance and support to all of us. His Eminence Sandri was the first person to call me on the first day of the war, when we were in the bomb shelter under the Patriarchal Cathedral, and expressed his words of solidarity, support and comfort."
His Beatitude Sviatoslav also thanked the Catholic Episcopate of Australia: "Yesterday we received a letter of solidarity from the Australian Episcopal Conference. The bishops of Australia clearly state who is the culprit. They clearly stated how for many years, decades and centuries Ukraine has been subjected to resentment and destruction by the imperial ambitions and sentiments of our northern neighbor."
The communion of a single Church body is "something that can raise the spirit and comfort Ukrainians in their sadness," the Head of the UGCC notes.