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Vatican Embassy, Ukrainian Embassy To Vatican Rule Out Francis І To Visit Ukraine Soon

Friday, March 29, 2013
Ukrainian News Agency
http://un.ua/eng/article/442293.html

The apostolical nunciature in Ukraine (Vatican diplomatic mission) and Ukraine's Embassy to the Holy See (Vatican) rule our visit of Roman Pontiff Francis І (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) to Ukraine in the short term, Ukrainian News Agency has learned from the representations' staff.

"We do not know [about the visit to Ukraine and the terms], if we know we'll inform... It's too early now, he [the pontiff] has been elected not long ago. He will be in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil in July on occasion of the World Youth Day... The visits are announced six months or one year ahead," the apostolical nunciature told.

The source says the diplomatic mission still has no information about if the Vatican even is considering a possibility of the Holy Father's visit to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Embassy confirmed this.

"There is no question [of the visit] yet. This is a remote prospect," noted a staff of the Ukrainian Embassy to Vatican.

The Ukrainian diplomat also says Ukraine is conducting no official negotiations at the moment on Francis І visit.

Before, the media reported the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav (Shevchuk) telling about an invitation, sent to the Pope, to visit Ukraine, and that it is already necessary to get ready for this visit.

At the same time, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church's press secretary Ihor Yatsiv has told Ukrainian News Agency that the invitation was sent in the congratulation addressed to Francis І on his Pope election.

"Here it goes of His Beatitude Sviatoslav wrote a congratulatory letter to Pope Francis І on his election. He also invited to visit Ukraine when possible on occasion of the 1025th anniversary of baptism of Rus. It is hard to tell how possible this is," he stressed.

In his words, there was no reply to the letter of congratulations.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Bergoglio was elected the 266th supreme pontiff on March 13, and adopted the name Francis І.

Pope Benedict XVI planned to visit Ukraine in 2012.

In 2009, then President Viktor Yuschenko in frames of his official visit to Vatican had an audience with Benedict XVI; Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and current leader of the Batkivschyna All-Ukrainian Association party, met the Pope later that year.

In June 2001, then Pope John Paul II spent five days in Ukraine, having visited Kyiv and Lviv.

What are relations between the UGCC Major Archbishop and the President nowadays?

If there are celebrations, I'm sure His Beatitude Patriarch Cyril will be attending again, possible with EP Bartholomew if the celebration is being planned on a grand scale. Which would make things interesting if Mjr.Abp. Shevchuk's supreme pontiff takes him up on his invitation.

Were there any celebrations of the 1050 anniversary of the failed mission of Adalbert of Magdeburg in 2011? Will there be any celebration of the 700th anniversary of the appointment of Henry, source of the episcopal lineage of Abp. Petro Herkulan Malchuk, in 2020?

Isa,

I doubt that St Adalbert's mission was commemmorated, no reason for it to be. Frankly, I can't even imagine that there would be a significant celebration of the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Rus unless one takes the view that the 1000th was less well-commemorated than it might have been, given that the Iron Curtain had been rent but had not yet fallen.

As to the other anniversary that you reference, I'm not aware of any instances in which anyone celebrates the appointment of their canonical forebearer. And, for that matter, who is Henry? Archbishop Malchuk is descended from the episcopal lineage of Scipione Cardinal Rebiba, along with 90+% of all Latin Catholic hierarchs living today. See his episcopal tree [catholic-hierarchy.org] at Catholic-Hierarchy.org.

Many years,

Neil

Henry (IIRC, it's actually Heinrych) was the founder of his see
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dk543.html

There was a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Innocent Englightener of Alaska as bishop of Sitka, the see of America. (although I don't recall much for the 150th, coming as it did between the big millenium celebration in Chicago and then the centennial of Orthodoxy in Chicago (when the cathedral-parishes had been established).

I thought the "1025" celebration was a little odd myself.