Head of the UGCC had a meeting with the Ambassador of Germany

On the 29^th of April, His Beatitude Sviatoslav met with Christof Weil, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, and with Dirk Lehelt, Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Germany in Ukraine.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the current socio-political situation in Ukraine, the last visit of the AUCCRO to Brussels and the main topics presented by AUCCRO during this visit. Then, they moved on to the discussion over the issue of the restitution of Church property and of religious organizations, which was in a violent way taken away by the communist regime. His Beatitude Sviatoslav informed the Ambassador that "it is around 10 years that our church is dealing with this issue, seeking for the necessary documents and carrying out an inventory of the stolen property". "We are also developing different models of the possible restitution of the belongings of the country," – added the Head of the UGCC.

The Primate of the Church, in particular, emphasized: "Restitution of the material values of the church - is not some special favor, or service from the side of government, which is done for the Churches of Ukraine. It is about the observance of the principles of historical justice and about the restitution of what has been taken".

Moreover, His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that the object of restitution should be not only the places of worship, but also other kinds of church property, so that the Churches and religious organizations, without any troubles, could conduct educational and the morale building activities and  could perform social service in the state.

UGCC Department of Information