Visit to Ukraine of the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference Comes to an End

On July 20, 2010, the visit of President of Episcopal Conference of Italy and Archbishop of Genoa Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco to Ukraine came to an end. On the final day of his visit to Ukraine, Bagnasco visited the construction site of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is on the Left Bank of the Dnipro River in Kyiv. The president of the Italian Episcopal Conference was accompanied by the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine Bishop Ivan Yurkovych, the head of UGCC His Beatitude Lubomyr, and the Secretary of Synod of Bishops of UGCC Bishop Bohdan (Dzyurakh). After visiting the cathedral the hierarchies went to the Graves of Bykivnia State Historical-Memorial Comples where they prayed near the mass grave of the victims of communist repressions. In the evening Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco left Ukraine for Rome. We remind that on July 17-18 on the invitation of the UGCC the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference participated in the national pilgrimage to Maria’s Spiritual Center in Zarvanytsia. On the first day of the pilgrimage Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco congratulated the pilgrims on behalf of the pope and bishops of Italy. The following day the cardinal passed to the faithful greetings from 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.” On July 17 Bagnasco visited the St. Dormition of the Kyiv Cave Monastery, and on July 19 met with the head of the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan).  During the meeting the metropolitan expressed to the cardinal gratitude for assistance in granting church buildings for Orthodox communities in Italy and support in the activity of the Roman Catholic Church against secular and anti-Christian processes in Western Europe, in particular, in the legalization of same-sex marriage. Cardinal Bagnasco thanked the head of the UOC-MP for his support and spoke about combining efforts to counteract secularization which is becoming more and more noticeable in Eastern Europe. Cardinal Bagnasco is known by his conservative views. He resolutely reprobates same-sex partnerships, for which he has become a target of threats from homosexual rights activists. The president of the Italian Episcopal Conference has twice received letters with death threats, and bullets in envelopes.

Information Department of the UGCC