On February 17, during the visit of the UGCC hierarchs to the Holy See – Ad Limina, the bishops of the UGCC Synod headed by Patriarch Sviatoslav visited the Vatican State Secretariat, as reported by the Information Department of the UGCC with reference to the press service of St Sophia community.
At the meeting with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, head of the Vatican’s state institution, the patriarch told about the real situation in Ukraine and pastoral challenges facing the Church in war. In particular, he informed the Archbishop of the “Message of Synod of Bishops to priests on pastoral care in war.”
In his address to the Vatican diplomatic representatives, the patriarch also stressed the need to tell the truth and defend the truth in any circumstances.“This is what the citizens of Ukraine expect today from the Holy See as the highest moral authority,” he added.
After noon, the Divine Liturgy at St John Lateran Basilica was celebrated. In his address to the faithful who assembled for prayer the patriarch said that the bishops came to the Holy Father to tell him the truth about aggression that Ukraine sustains today.
“Once my predecessor, Metropolitan Hryhoriy Tsamblak came here to tell the Christians of the West about the Mongol-Tatar invasion and today we deem it our duty to tell the world the truth about what is happening in Ukraine,” the patriarch said.