On Sunday, October 6, 2024, after the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis announced that on December 8, he would hold a consistory to celebrate the installation of the new cardinals. The list includes Bishop Mykola Bychok, Bishop of Melbourne of the UGCC (Australia).
This is reported by the Information Department of the UGCC with reference to Vatican News.
Among the 21 new cardinals, 11 represent Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Background: Bishop Mykola Bychok was born on February 13, 1980 in Ternopil. In July 1997, he joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, carrying out monastic and theological formation in Ukraine and Poland, and received a license in pastoral theology. After taking lifelong vows on August 17, 2003, he was ordained a priest on May 3, 2005.
Fr Mykola performed pastoral ministries at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Prokopyevsk (Russia), was the abbot of the Redemptorist Fathers Monastery and a parish in Ivano-Frankivsk, and was a provincial economist. Starting from 2015, he served at the parish of St. John the Baptist in Newark, USA, of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia of the UGCC.
On January 15, 2020, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Petro Stasiuk of Melbourne of the UGCC. At the same time, the Holy Father appointed Fr. Mykola Bychok, a hieromonk of the CSsR, a parish worker at St. John the Baptist Parish in Newark, USA, as the new diocese bishop.
The ordination of Bishop Mykola was postponed due to the covid and took place on July 12, 2021, in Lviv.