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(Leopolis) – “The Martyrs’ Church”: this is the definition that last night opened the 37th meeting of the secretaries general of the European Bishops Conferences that is taking place in Leopolis, Ukraine. The history and experience of the Catholic Church in Ukraine, in both rites, the Byzantine and the Latin ones, have been addressed by the meeting, promoted by Ccee (Council of European Bishops Conferences) to commemorate “the pain endured under the oppression of the Communist regime that, in addition to deporting priests and bishops to the Siberian gulags, did not hesitate to close down the granaries to starve and subdue a population that did not intend to give up their Christian faith”. This morning, card. Lubomyr Husar, president of the Synod of the Greek Catholic Bishops, and mgr. Mieczys³aw Mokrzycki, president of the Latin Catholic Bishops Conference, spoke of the “renaissance of a Church that in a country that feels European intends to respond with the language of the Gospel to the difficulties and expectations of the people”. Membership of Ccee, the two Catholic leaders stated, “gives the Eastern Churches the great opportunity to offer a special spiritual and cultural contribution to Europe and at the same time to receive from the Western Churches an encouragement and a solidarity that are essential to face still-difficult situations”.
© SIR 10 luglio 2009