Cardinal:Ukraine Offers Ecumenical Crossroads

"The effort to create unity, to establish a platform of unity is an indispensable premise for the new evangelization."

VATICAN CITY (Zenit) - Ukraine could be a significant meeting point between the cultures of the East and West, said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The Pope's secretary of state said this in an interview with L'Osservatore Romano after returning last Monday from a four-day trip to the country, in which he noted that there is a "a lively Church" in Ukraine, "even enthusiastic."

The cardinal recalled that this year is the 1020th anniversary of the first evangelization of the nation that "starting from Kiev, went to the East and established the foundations of those Christian roots which were taken up, confirmed not only at the hierarchical level of the various Churches, but also at the level and awareness of identity itself of the Ukrainian authorities."

Ukraine "could carry out an important role as a meeting point, a crossroads between the cultures of the East and West," he added.

Cardinal Bertone emphasized the need for ecumenical dialogue, "because the effort to create unity, to establish a platform of unity, to converge on common objectives precisely given the common faith, is an indispensable premise for the new evangelization and for the efficacy of the testimony of the whole Church, of all the Christian confessions, in their diversity, but in the unity of the same faith in Christ."

He said those he met in Ukraine "spoke of the need to take concrete common steps. Notwithstanding the difficulties that still persist, they are positive steps of interreligious dialogue to converge on some topics, such as that of formation."

The secretary of state said the Ukrainian governmental authorities recognize the contribution of the Church. He cited as examples the Catholic University of Leopoli and the St. Thomas Institute of Higher Religious Studies of Kiev, "attended by many Catholic and Orthodox young people, and even nonbelievers who are seeking."

Faithful

Cardinal Bertone said a "real problem" of today's world is the lack of reciprocal knowledge between Catholics of Ukraine and those of Western Europe.

He called for greater knowledge of the people of the country, who have "remained faithful to Christian values, perhaps more than others," and now "approach the doors of Europe with their dignity and with resources that we should all value."

The cardinal said that if on one hand it is necessary to remember so many martyrs of Ukrainian faith, victims of the "attempt to annihilate the Church," on the other hand it is necessary "to revivify the memory for today, because then there was an open persecution, but now there is a subtle attack, an attack of indifference and consumerism."

Free Prayer PDFs | Available in English, Spanish and French

"The Communist empire has fallen," said the secretary of state, "but there are other problems that challenge the faith, which call for courage, an even greater effort, perhaps, in witnessing to the Christian faith and in truly living the Christian life."

In Lviv Cardinal Bertone presided over the May 24 beatification ceremony of Martha Mary Wiecka (1874-1904), a Polish religious of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. The religious died of typhus after deciding to substitute a medical assistant who was to disinfect a patient's room in the hospital of Sniatyn.