Ukrainian Catholic leader meets with Muslim leaders, deplores Russian religious justification of war
January 31, 2026
Ukrainian Muslim leaders joined the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church at the presentation of the first Ukrainian translation of the Document on Human Fraternity.
Pope Francis and Sunni Muslim leader Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar in Egypt, signed the document in 2019 during the Pope’s apostolic journey to the United Arab Emirates. At the presentation of the Ukrainian translation, held on January 29 at the Patriarchal Center of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Kyiv, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk described the document as “a manifestation of the mutual will of the Catholic Church and the Muslim world, which aims to show us an example of brotherhood.”
“There is humanity outside my Church or my religious organization,” said Major Archbishop Shevchuk. “A person is the pinnacle of the Creator’s wisdom. And respect for that person, regardless of which church they attend or which religious organization they belong to, is something that the Creator’s wisdom urges us to do today.”
Reflecting on the document’s call to “refrain from using the name of God to justify acts of murder, exile, terrorism and oppression,” the Major Archbishop said:
This ideology, which is currently waging war against Ukraine, known as the ‘Russian world’ ideology, justifies murder in the name of God and calls the war against Ukraine sacred.
The Islamic world had immunity—antibodies—to reject the use of religion for political purposes ... I hope that Christians will also gain such immunity in order to resist the ideology of the ‘Russian world’ ... And together we will declare that killing in the name of God is blasphemy, it is contempt for God, whom we call the Creator and Savior.
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Further information:
- “Killing in the name of God is blasphemy”: Ukrainian translation of the Document on Human Fraternity Presented in Kyiv (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, 1/30/26)
- The Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Meets with Representatives of Muslim Centers in Ukraine (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, 1/29/26)
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