In Zarvanytsya President of Italian Episcopal Conference Pronounced Brotherly Greetings to the Faithful of the Orthodox Church

Brotherly greetings to the faithful of Orthodox Church were said by the Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference and metropolitan of Genoa, in his address to the faithful of the UGCC, heard on July 18 during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy as part of the pilgrimage to the Maria’s Spiritual Center in Zarvanytsia. “Let the Lord and Teacher help us go with faith to communion and unity, so that the world believed in the love of Christ,” said the cardinal. In his pastoral word the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference expressed his respect to the Ukrainian Church for the beauty of its rites and “unity, in the variety of gifts and community of hearts.” As the cardinal noted, “the memory of persecution is alive, it generates and multiplies courage which rescued the Catholic faith.” The cardinal passed the greeting of the bishops of Italy, “this noble Earth, irrigated with the blood of many believers of the faith,” and confirmed in prayers and support “with gratitude for the example of the testimony of faith and love to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Mother of the Church.” The national pilgrimage was traditionally led by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church His Beatitude Lubomyr. Fourteen bishops, priests, monastics, and faithful of the UGCC took part in the pilgrimage. This year the all-Ukrainian pilgrimage to Zarvanytsya was devoted to the year of consecrated life.

Information Department of the UGCC