Turning the pages back... December 13, 1976 (12/08/96)

Turning the pages back...

December 13, 1976

Twenty years ago, The Ukrainian Weekly carried a front-page story headlined "Pope Paul voices regrets he cannot confirm patriarchate." The story was about an audience of Ukrainian Catholic prelates with Pope Paul VI on December 13, 1976.

Following are excerpts from that news story.

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. - "Pope Paul VI has reaffirmed his stand against creating the Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate that Josyf Cardinal Slipyj and some of his bishops have been seeking," said the Associated Press in a story published December 14, 1976, by the Herald-News of Passaic, N.J.

Pope Paul had received Patriarch Slipyj and six Ukrainian Catholic bishops in an audience, according to the AP report.

The bishops, joined by the clergy and some faithful from various parts of the West, including the U.S. and Canada, were in Rome to honor Patriarch Josyf on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his pastoral work.

There were seven Ukrainian bishops attending the ceremonies, according to a report filed with Svoboda by Prof. Vasyl Markus. They were: Archbishop-Metropolitan Maxim Hermaniuk from Winnipeg, Bishop Basil H. Losten from Philadelphia, Bishop Neil Savaryn from Edmonton, his Auxiliary Bishop Martin Greschuk, Bishop Isidore Borecky from Toronto, Bishop Ivan Prashko from Australia, and Bishop Jaroslav Gabro from Chicago. They met with Patriarch Josyf in two days of sessions prior to the audience with the pope.

The AP account went on to say the following:

"According to Vatican observers, the Holy See feels making Cardinal Slipyj a patriarch could lead to a loosening of the Vatican position over Ukrainian Catholics.

"The pope reiterated the Vatican's opposition to a patriarchal title for the 84-year-old cardinal during an audience with Slipyj and six Ukrainian bishops.

"He told them, 'Let us evoke the extended uneasiness of certain Ukrainian communities and their pastors. We want to refer to the expectancy for a patriarchal title that in the present condition the See of Rome does not see the possibility of granting.'

"The Ukrainian patriarchate issue came into the open in 1971 during a Ukrainian synod held in Rome in defiance of the Vatican. In that synod Cardinal Slipyj and 19 bishops vowed to keep up their struggle for a Ukrainian Patriarchate.

"Even before that synod, Cardinal Slipyj was reported to have been seeking for years the title and power of patriarch to rule the 6 million Ukrainian Catholics in the Soviet Ukraine and the 1.8 million in the West.

"The stand against granting such a patriarchate, the pope told the Ukrainian prelates, is interpreted in certain circles as a lack of understanding by the Holy See."

Bishop Losten, contacted by Svoboda soon after his turn from Rome, said the AP account did not convey the spirit in which the 40-minute audience was conducted.

He said that the pope first read his statement in French, but then, in speaking to the Ukrainian prelates collectively and individually, voiced his regrets that "at the present time" he cannot give his official sanction for the establishment of a Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate sought by the prelates, clergy and faithful.

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Twenty years later, the Ukrainian Catholic Church has just marked the 400th anniversary of the Union of Brest and held its first patriarchal sobor. But, it still does not have a patriarchate. And the Vatican still finds recognition of a Ukrainian patriarchate to be a highly sensitive topic in its relations with the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

As the head of the World Patriarchal Federation, Wasyl Kolodchin, put it, the Vatican's failure to recognize the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic patriarchate is "strictly political" in nature, as "the only hindrance" appears to be the Moscow Patriarchate.

Source: The Ukrainian Weekly, December 26, 1976; October 20, 1996, October 27, 1996.