NeW YORK (OSV News): Ukraine’s Greek Catholic bishops, led by Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych and head of the worldwide Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said their nation will continue to fight Russian aggression, “notwithstanding the suggestions for need for negotiations coming from representatives of different countries, including the Holy Father himself.
“Ukrainians will continue to defend freedom and dignity to achieve a peace that is just,” said the permanent synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in a March 10 statement, issued hours after the synod had concluded a weeklong series of meetings in the United States with clergy, faithful and US government officials.
Signing the statement were the permanent synod’s members: Major Archbishop Shevchuk; Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia, head of Ukrainian Catholics in the US; Bishop Wlodzimierz Juszczak of the Eparchy of Wroclaw-Koszalin in Poland; Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh, apostolic exarch in Germany and Scandinavia; and Bishop Josaphat Moshchych of Chernivtsi.
The synod’s statement followed a recent interview Pope Francis gave to Lorenzo Buccella of Radio Télévision Suisse, in which he urged parties to the war in Ukraine “not be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse.”
Ukrainians will continue to defend freedom and dignity to achieve a peace that is just
Archbishop Schevchuk
In the interview, a portion of which was released on March 9 ahead of the full March 20 airing, the pope, who discussed both Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, told Buccella that “the word ‘negotiate’ is a courageous word.”
“When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, it is necessary to have the courage to negotiate,” he said. “You may feel ashamed, but with how many deaths will it end? Negotiate in time; look for some country that can mediate. Today, for example in the war in Ukraine, there are many who want to mediate. Turkey has offered itself for this. And others.”
The pope’s comments quickly sparked international backlash, prompting Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni to issue a March 9 clarification of the remarks in which he pointed out that “the pope picked up the image of the white flag, proposed by the interviewer, to indicate a cessation of hostilities, a truce reached with the courage of negotiation. His hope is for a diplomatic solution for a just and lasting peace.”
The Ukrainian Catholic bishops prefaced their statement by clarifying that they “do not yet have a full version of the interview” given by the pope, while noting that “as he has done repeatedly, Pope Francis calls for negotiated settlements of armed conflicts.”
The bishops said they wished “to reflect not upon the pope’s statement but upon the point of view of the victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” since “it is important to understand the position of most Ukrainians.”
…the pope picked up the image of the white flag, proposed by the interviewer, to indicate a cessation of hostilities, a truce reached with the courage of negotiation. His hope is for a diplomatic solution for a just and lasting peace.
Matteo Bruni
The bishops said, “Ukrainians cannot surrender because surrender means death. The intentions of [Russian president] Putin and Russia are clear and explicit.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash, echoed that sentiment saying, “For us, it’s not a matter of a victory — it’s just a matter of the survival of our existence as a nation, as a country.”
Russia’s war on Ukraine, now entering its 11th year [dating back to the annexation of Crimea in 2014], is “an example of … contemporary genocide” realised against a “concrete territory, concrete country … concrete nation,” Yurash said.
He said that he has not yet spoken directly and officially with anyone at the Vatican regarding Pope Francis’ interview comments, but added he “[hopes] we’ll have in the near future, very shortly, some communications.” Like the synod bishops, the ambassador said it is “important to wait for the official contacts and the official explanations … on the highest level.”
The bishops stressed that along with Putin, “70 per cent of the Russian population support the genocidal war against Ukraine, as does Patriarch Kirill and the Russian Orthodox Church.”
As of November 2023, “the level of support for the actions of the Russian armed forces” in Ukraine “remains high,” with 74 per cent of the populace declaring approval, according to the Levada Centre, an independent sociological research firm based in Moscow.
Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill has also moved to absolve Russian troops of crimes preaching in a September 2022 sermon that any Russian soldier who dies in Ukraine offers a sacrifice that “washes away all the sins that a person has committed.”
Two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights have determined Russia’s invasion constitutes genocide, with Ukraine reporting more than 127,060 war crimes committed by Russia to date in Ukraine since February 2022.
“The expressed objectives [of Russia] are articulated in concrete actions,” said the Ukrainian bishops.
The permanent synod’s visit, which included stops in Washington, Philadelphia, northern New Jersey and New York, marked the first official travel by a Ukrainian Catholic delegation to the US since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, continuing attacks begun in 2014.
