National deputies support Greek-Catholic Patriarchate (03/14/04)

National deputies support Greek-Catholic Patriarchate

Religious Information Service of Ukraine

KYIV - More than 150 national deputies of Ukraine signed a letter to Pope John Paul II, asking him to grant the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) the status of a patriarchate. News of the move was reported on March 4 by the UNIAN news service.

According to Oleksa Hudyma, national deputy and member of the Our Ukraine bloc who initiated the collection of signatures, "the atmosphere during the collection of signatures was extremely friendly, both towards the Greek-Catholic Church and those national deputies who contributed the most to this endeavor."

Among those who signed the letter were mostly national deputies who are members of Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine faction. In addition, National Deputies Mustafa Jemilev and Refat Chubarov, head and deputy of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, as well as National Deputy Yevhen Chervonenko, president of the Confederation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine, also signed the letter to the pontiff.

According to the press service of the Ukrainian National Party, Mr. Hudyma informed Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the UGCC, that more than 150 signatures were collected in the Verkhovna Rada in support of the establishment of the UGCC patriarchate.

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