Vatican reported to be unlikely to approve Ukrainian Patriarchate (02/29/04)

Vatican reported to be unlikely to approve Ukrainian Patriarchate

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - The Vatican is unlikely to recognize a Patriarchate for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, it was learned this week in the wake of meetings in Moscow between officials of the Holy See and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).

The Catholic News Service (CNS) quoted Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, primate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, as stating that "I have absolutely no doubt the holy father would like to establish the Patriarchate, but he also wants to keep the dialogue with the Orthodox open."

CNS correspondent Cindy Wooden wrote that Vatican officials also told her there is no doubt about the pope's admiration for the fidelity of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and for the traditions of the Christian East, including the fact that mature Eastern Churches are led by patriarchs.

Nonetheless, Vatican officials have cited unease about relations with Orthodox Churches and concern about Catholics in Russia as reasons to not recognize the Patriarchate at this point in time.

The Associated Press quoted Pope John Paul II as saying on February 22 that working to bring unity among Christians is his "indispensable mission." At the same time, Vatican sources told the news service that Rome is paying serious attention to Russian Orthodox complaints about the state of Catholic-Orthodox relations.

Interfax Moscow reported that ROC Patriarch Aleksei II had complained that decisions taken at Orthodox-Catholic meetings "have remained only on paper," that an agreement stipulating that the Catholic Church would notify the ROC when "new Catholic structures are set up in the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church" was being ignored and that the Catholic Church was engaging in "direct proselytism."

The Associated Press added that among the issues raised by Russian Orthodox leaders was the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church's expansion into eastern and southern Ukraine, which the ROC considers traditionally Orthodox territory.

The Russian Orthodox Church laid the groundwork for meetings in Moscow with Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, by asking leaders of other Orthodox Churches to speak out on the issue of the Ukrainian Catholic Patriarchate. CNS reported that, in letters published in February, a dozen Orthodox leaders asked Pope John Paul II not to name the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church a patriarch. Many of them noted that this would be seen as an attack on Orthodoxy and would severely damage relations with Rome.

The Associated Press reported that the responses, all negative, were posted on the Moscow Patriarchate's website in advance of Cardinal Kasper's Moscow meetings, which were aimed at improving ties between the two Churches. Recent strains in the relationship had prevented the pontiff from traveling to Russia, a long-held dream of Pope John Paul II.

Before those meetings Cardinal Kasper told the AP that the Catholic Church did not have a "purposeful policy" of attracting Orthodox faithful, while noting that his Church "has the right to exist in the countries of Eastern Europe, with their Orthodox majority, and fulfill its mission." He added, "Both sides must respect religious freedom and freedom of conscience."

Meetings in Moscow

Cardinal Kasper, the highest Vatican official to visit Russia in four years, met with Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, who chairs the ROC's Department for External Relations, on February 19. His meeting with Patriarch Aleksei II took place three days later.

On February 21, the Holy See issued a statement noting that "Both parties have agreed that, in order to solve any issues that may arise in the future with regard to relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, a work group will be set up featuring members of both Churches. The aim of the group will be examining and solving these issues."

Citing the BBC Monitoring Service, the Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU) reported that, during his meeting with Patriarch Aleksei, Cardinal Kasper said that the Catholic Church would not set up a Greek-Catholic Patriarchate in Ukraine. At the same meeting, Patriarch Aleksei complained that "proselytism in the territory of Russia and other CIS countries is spreading more and more widely and broadly."

According to ITAR-TASS, the ROC leader underscored that the establishment of a Greek-Catholic Patriarchate in Ukraine will give up for lost relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican. The patriarch is concerned about "the union spreading into east[ern] Ukraine, Russia and Kazakstan," noted ITAR-TASS.

Responses from Ukrainian Catholics

The Catholic News Service secured a reaction to the latest developments from Cardinal Husar. Speaking on February 24, the Ukrainian Catholic leader said: "We certainly do not wish to have our Patriarchate recognized at the expense of someone else; we would not want others to suffer."

However, he said, "the Patriarchate is not a prize, but a pastoral tool," and the Vatican must evaluate whether the dialogue with the Orthodox is promising enough to make it worthwhile to put the needs and the desires of Ukrainian Catholics in second place. "It would be very difficult to explain to our people if the decision were put on hold. ...They feel we are being sold."

"We do not want our Patriarchate to be the ultimate blow to unity, but on the contrary, we would use it to work for unity on an equal footing" with the Orthodox Churches who follow a patriarch, he said. "We are willing to help ensure it does not become an obstacle, but there must be a plan." He added, " 'Not now' is not an answer."

A response came also from the Office of the Apocrisarius (representative) of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Rome in the form of a statement that recounted the topics of discussion between the Vatican and ROC leaders. The statement underscored that "thus far, no decisions have been made."

Meanwhile, in Lviv, at the Ukrainian Catholic University, Vice-Rector Myroslav Marynovych on February 25 told Matthew Matuszak of the Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU) that the ROC likens the development of the UGCC to "the spread of a dangerous virus."

Mr. Marynovych commented on the situation for RISU as follows:

"The address of Patriarch Aleksei II is restrained, in a key traditional for the Russian Orthodox Church. If the 'Uniate' Church is allowed to exist, this will be, to put it offensively, only 'under the table' of history, in its own special regional ghetto. Though natural for an era of migration, the Church's extensive development is treated like the spread of a dangerous virus that threatens Christian peace. It is not possible to accept such an interpretation.

"However, the obstinacy and ultimatum-like character of the patriarch's language is, in my opinion, not only the result of the worries of those leaders of the ROC who refuse to reconcile. Some Roman Catholics in the West with whom I have conversed express their unease with the supposedly unreasonable acts of Eastern Catholics. In their understanding, Greek-Catholics should avoid actions that could aggravate the Moscow Patriarchate. The UGCC's struggle to have its Patriarchate established and to transfer the patriarch's see to Kyiv, unfortunately, is received by some Roman Catholics not as an element of the normal development of the UGCC, but as unmotivated steps in the direction of confrontation. This creates a background against which the obstinacy of patriarchal Moscow looks understandable.

"However, this result of the discussions in Moscow, seemingly negative for the UGCC, is in fact an important step towards the normalization of inter-Church relations. It has brought forth some conclusions: the Moscow Patriarchate is making efforts to return relations with the Vatican to the old rut of Ostpolitik, and the hypnotic dependence of Vatican propositions on the ultimatums of the Moscow Patriarchate contradicts the spirit of the modern era. I am convinced that, both in Catholicism and in world Orthodoxy, dissatisfaction with the way the discussions in Moscow were conducted will grow. Therefore, there will still be changes."

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