Ukraine's faith leaders urge US Catholics to side with 'truth' – Ucanews

Bishop Vitaliy Kryvytskyi of the Latin Church’s Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, Ukraine. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Ukrainian religious leaders met with the head of the US Catholic bishops’ conference, asking the church in the US to “be on the side of the truth” regarding Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, hosted members of the Ukrainian Council of the Churches of Religious Organizations May 1 in Washington.
UCCRO — established in 1996 and the largest group of its kind in Ukraine — works to unite that nation’s religiously plural communities in a number of efforts, including spiritual revival, interfaith dialogue, church-state relations and charitable initiatives.
UCCRO members expressed gratitude for support from the American people — along with real concern about shifts in the US stance on Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
“We really have felt the solidarity of the Church in the USA, and we never cease to pray for you,” said Bishop Vitaliy Kryvytskyi of the Latin Church’s Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, Ukraine, at the gathering.
Fellow UCCRO delegate Bishop Igor Bandura, deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Union of the Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, described prayer as “the most powerful weapon,” and asked for continued intercession for Ukraine.
At the same time, Bishop Kryvytskyi urged US faithful “not to allow a false narrative to prevail in the current political climate.” He stressed that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — launched in February 2022, and continuing attacks begun in 2014 — are “‘war,’ not a ‘conflict.'”
He said, “This is one example of how we see things have shifted.”
The current Trump administration has signaled an array of messages regarding Ukraine — often appearing to side with Russia, while at times blaming both sides or claiming ambivalence.
More recently, following President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy in St. Peter’s Basilica, the US entered into a minerals deal with Ukraine without providing explicit security guarantees — a contrast with the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which the US, the United Kingdom and Russia pledged security assurances for post-Soviet Ukraine as it acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
However, the Trump minerals deal was followed by the US authorizing a Patriot missile battery’s transfer from Israel to Ukraine, and it has been described on the Ukrainian side as an important part of developing its future security architecture.
During their meeting with Archbishop Broglio, UCCRO members highlighted in particular Russia’s deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children for “reeducation,” placement and adoption by Russian families. Ukraine’s government officially counts 19,546 Ukrainian children that have been taken by Russian authorities, while Russian officials themselves claim the number of children in their custody is more than 700,000.
The forced transfers, which violate international law, have triggered two of the six arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Russian officials, including one against Russian President Vladimir Putin and child commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
The UCCRO delegation also pointed to Russia’s targeting of churches and houses of worship, with more than 600 religious buildings damaged, and religious persecution in Ukraine’s occupied territories.
In 2022, Russian officials banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus and Caritas, the official humanitarian arm of the universal Catholic Church, in occupied areas of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Two Ukrainian Catholic priests, Father Bohdan Geleta and Father Ivan Levitsky, were captured, imprisoned and tortured for 18 months before their June 2024 release during a Vatican-mediated prisoner exchange.
Archbishop Broglio, who also heads the US Archdiocese for the Military Services, urged the UCCRO members to “continue to speak the truth, even when not politically expedient, respect fundamental human rights and treat every human person with dignity, even Russian prisoners of war.”
Share your comments
Dear reader,
Lent is the season during which catechumens make their final preparations to be welcomed into the Church.
UCA News is proud to present ‘Christ calls, Asians respond’, a series of feature stories depicting the journey of catechumens who will receive the Sacraments of Initiation on Easter Vigil.
These fascinating stories come to you for free, but producing and publishing them requires financial support.
William J. Grimm
Publisher
UCA News

source