Patriarch Sviatoslav met by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri in Rome

The prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, passed to Patriarch Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) the original letter from Pope Benedict XVI, by which the pope on March 25, 2011, approved the election of the new supreme archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). The letter was presented on April 3, after the Hierarchical Liturgy of the newly elected head of the UGCC in the  St. Sophia Church in Rome.

According to the Information Department of UGCC, the liturgy was attended by the secretary of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Mykola Eterovych.

The service was also attended by the secretary of the Papal Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Vatican Tetiana Izhevska, ambassador of Canada to the Vatican and ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Italy, rector of Russicum, chaplain of Russicum, representatives of the Catholic Church in Italy, director of the Emigrant Office of Rome, and rectors of the Collegiums of the Holy Protection and St. Yosafat in Rome. The head of the UGCC was greeted by dozens of priests from Ukraine and Italy, students of Rome's educational institutions, representatives of monastic communities, numerous pilgrims from various Greek Catholic parishes of Italy.

Before the liturgy, the head of the UGCC was addressed and greeted by the rector of the Cathedral of the St. Sophia in Rome, Fr. Dr. Ivan Muzychka.  The patriarch was also addressed by the head of the Christian Society of Ukrainians in Italy, Oles Horodetskyi.