Cardinal Angelo Sodano visited the Greek-Catholic Church in Karaganda

In this church the guest was met by a great number of people from the Greek-Catholic community. Children and the youth were dressed in embroidered shirts; girls were holding bread and flowers. Fr. Vasyl Hovera, the Apostolic delegate for Greek-Catholics in Kazakhstan and Middle Asia welcomed this important guest. In his welcome address, which was delivered in Italian, Fr. Vasyl reminded of the previous Cardinal Sodano’s visit that took place in May 2003, during which he visited the Greek-Catholic community that, at that time, was praying in a small chapel (the foundation for a new church was already laid nearby). In two years, that is - in 2005, the newly established church was consecrated by the Cardinal Ignatius Musa Daud, the prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.

Father Vasyl emphasized that this temple is the symbol of resurrection of the Greek-Catholic Church, which spent the period of 43 years hiding and being persecuted, after what it emerged from the catacombs to enjoy religious freedom. Pointing on the assembled people, the Apostolic Delegate for the Greek Catholics in Kazakhstan and Central Asia noted that all of those faithful people: adults, youth and children – are the Fruit of faith and suffering of our victims, because during the Stalinist regime, on the territory of Kazakhstan, three Greek Catholic bishops, approximately 300 priests as well as thousands of faithful, found themselves in prisons and concentration camps.

Afterwards, the senior priest of the parish asked the Vatican dignitaries to accept, as the Ukrainian tradition demands, the modest gifts of bread, salt and flowers - which are all the symbols of our love and fidelity to the Successor of Peter, who is represented by the Cardinal Sodano, the papal legate, and to devote the Apostolic Blessing to both: all the people who were present, as well as, the whole Greek-Catholic Church in Kazakhstan.

Having mounted on the pulpit, Cardinal Sodano addressed the people who were present in the church. The Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals expressed his satisfaction that there are a lot of children and young people in the church, stressing that they are the hope and the future of the church. Moreover, he reminded of the courage and loyalty of the Greek-Catholic martyrs, who should serve as an example for us. He promised to send the Holy Father greetings and prayers from the Greek-Catholics of Karaganda.

At the end of his short visit to the church, Father Vasyl showed to the important guest the two icons of the blessed martyrs- the Blessed Bishop Martyr Mykyta (Budka) and the priest Oleksiy Zarytskyi- that may be found in the church.  Moreover, the priest emphasized that this year, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will celebrate its 100^th anniversary since the arrival of the first Ukrainian bishop (His Beatitude Budka, who was mentioned above in this paragraph) to Canada, as well as, the beginning of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC on this occasion, in this country, on the 9^th of September this year.

While leaving the church, Cardinal Sodano expressed his gratitude to Fr. Vasyl Hovera for his service and for the large community that he saw in the church, especially for the enormous number of children and youth, who came to the church.

Press-Service of the UGCC in Kazakhstan