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Catholic World News News Feature

Ukrainian Catholics threaten ecumenism, Russian Orthodox leaders warn June 30, 2005

In talks last week with the leaders of the Patriarchate of Moscow, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity heard Russian Orthodox leaders warn that Catholic activities in Ukraine remain a "serious obstacle" to ecumenical progress.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, who was in Moscow from June 20 to 23, spoke with Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, the chief ecumenical representative of the Moscow patriarchate. The Orthodox leader expressed keen concern about the Ukrainian Catholic Church, and particularly the plans relocate the headquarters of the Byzantine-rite Church in Kiev.

For many years, Ukrainian Catholics-- who constitute the largest Eastern Christian community in full union with the Holy See-- have argued that their Church should be given the status of a patriarchate, similar to that enjoyed by other Eastern Catholic churches. But Orthodox leaders, particularly in Russia, have warned the Vatican that the creation of a Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate would prompt a complete breakdown in Orthodox-Catholic dialogue.

Pope John Paul II-- who frequently expressed his deep admiration for the Ukrainian Catholic community and its stalwart endurance under Soviet persecution-- had indicated that in principle he supported the creation of a Byzantine patriarchate in Ukraine. But he asked Ukrainian Catholics to be patient, recognizing the damage that could be done to Catholic-Orthodox relations worldwide. During his June stay in Moscow, Cardinal Kasper told reporters that Pope Benedict XVI "holds the same position as John Paul II" on that question.

Meanwhile Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, announced last May that he will move his See from Lviv to Kiev, locating the headquarters of the Eastern Catholic Church in the country's capital. Russian Orthodox leaders, who retain close ties to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, see that move as an affront, complaining that the Ukrainian Catholic Church is deliberating seeking to extend its influence in traditionally Orthodox territory.