With Technical Committee of Pope for Ukraine Initiative finishing its work, the Initiative moves to the next stage

Appointed as Secretariat Coordinator is His Grace Bishop Edward Kawa,OFM Conv., Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Lviv of the Latins. His Grace Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski of New-Westminster Eparchy (Canada) of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, will become the counselor.

Technical Committee of Pope for Ukraine Initiative finishes its work, which started in June 2016, on August 31, 2017, having completed the tasks it was entrusted with. 

Over this period it has conducted monitoring of the needs of most vulnerable categories of people who have suffered from military actions in the East of Ukraine. Criteria for selection of partner organizations for implementation of Pope Francis’s humanitarian initiative in Ukraine have been set. The Committee has approved the procedures for review of applications, technical and legal documents for further realization of Pope’s charitable projects in Ukraine.

Technical Committee with transfer its groundwork to Secretariat of Pope for Ukraine Initiative, which will begin its work on September 01, 2017 in Kyiv. It will continue cooperation with organizations already selected by the Committee and further complete it with new projects presented and reviewed following a simplified procedure. 

Appointed as Secretariat Coordinator is His Grace Bishop Edward Kawa,OFM Conv., Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Lviv of the Latins. His Grace Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski of New-Westminster Eparchy (Canada) of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, will become the Counselor. 

The Secretariat will continue implementation of Pope for Ukraine Initiative according to criteria developed by Technical Committee of the Initiative. 

Holy See State Secretariat entrusts Apostolic Nunciature to Ukraine with expressing deep gratitude to Pope for Ukraine Committee and particularly to its President for loyalty, generosity, and efficiency of the work done. At the same time we would like to wish successful work to the new Technical Secretariat and thank for expressed willingness,” the notice published on Apostolic Nunciature to Ukraine website says. 

Over the year of Initiative’s work, the money collected by Catholics in Europe and contributed by Pope Francis himself was used to implement over 80 big and small projects. Executive partners of the Initiative in 2016-2017 were Ukrainian and international organizations, charitable foundations and parish communities which implement projects aimed at helping IDPs in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Kharkiv Region and the city of Kyiv. 

Wishing to help the needs of Ukrainians tested by the long-lasting military conflict, the Holy Father organized money raising in different local European churches in April 2016. In order to review and finance respective projects the Holy See State Secretariat formed a Technical Committee of Pope for Ukraine Initiative on June 06 2016 A. D., chaired by His Grace Bishop Jan Sobilo, Auxiliary Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia.