Until this year, the last time a cardinal from Ukraine participated in a papal election was 2005, when Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head and father of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, took part in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.
Cardinal Husar’s successor, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, has not been named a cardinal.
But in May, a Ukrainian bishop took part in the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
It was in keeping with Pope Francis’ reputation as a “pope of surprises” that a 44-year-old former monk who headed a diocese in faraway Australia should be named a cardinal, the youngest cardinal, in fact.
Perhaps no one was more surprised than Mykola Bychok to find himself not only at the December 2024 consistory but in the May 2025 conclave.
Cardinal Bychok is from Western Ukraine, but has served in the United States, Australia, and even Russia. Born in Ternopil, two hours east of Lviv, on February 13, 1980, he was ordained a priest with the Redemptorists on May 3, 2005. He served in monastic and parish life and youth ministry in Ukraine and was a pastor in a Ukrainian Catholic parish in Newark, New Jersey
On January 15, 2020, Fr. Mykola was appointed by Pope Francis as the Eparchial Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne.
On June 7, 2020, the feast of Pentecost in the Julian Calendar, he was consecrated as bishop by His Beatitude Sviatoslav in St. George’s Cathedral, Lviv.
Just four and a half years later, on December 7, 2024, Bishop Bychok was created cardinal by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica. And five months after that, he found himself in the Sistine Chapel, electing the new Bishop of Rome.
This past weekend, he took part in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s Jubilee of Hope pilgrimage to Rome, where Pope Leo addressed a full St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday.
"I wish to express my closeness to the martyred Ukraine — to the children, the youth, the elderly, and especially to the families who mourn their loved ones," Pope Leo said. "I share in your sorrow for the prisoners and for the victims of this senseless war."
Cardinal Bychok spoke with Aleteia about his unique ministry and the flock he represents.
Your Eminence, please tell us about the Church you shepherd in Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania. It seems like quite a big territory.
Cardinal Mykola Bychok: The Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul for Ukrainian Catholics in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania covers an area of 8,919,530 square kilometers [3,443,849 square miles] and is located on the Australian mainland and the Oceania Islands. In this vast area, we have 10 parishes and 10 missions. A priest visits New Zealand, which is a mission station, once every six months and then tries to visit all those cities where there are Ukrainians. Even if it is only a few people, they want a priest to come to them.
If we compare our Ukrainian community with similar communities in the United States or Canada, we are much smaller -- about 8,000 faithful. However, because of the distance between our parishes and missions, I and our priests have to travel a lot to visit all the faithful.
In Australia, our Church is mostly made up of families who came during the first wave of migration [from Ukraine], in the 1950s, followed by the second wave in the ‘70s. And the third wave was caused by the war in Yugoslavia. In some of our parishes, up to 80% of the people are Ukrainians from Bosnia who have never been to Ukraine.
The majority of our Church is the 60+ generation, but we try to look for our young people. Most often we can find them at Plast [scouting] and CYM [Ukrainian Youth Association] camps. That is why our chaplains are assigned to these organizations. I always try to visit their summer camps at least once a year, which take place mostly in late December and early January, to stay for several days with Plast and CYM members. Our priests try to celebrate children's liturgies in their parishes at least once a month.
Going back to your own youth, let me ask you about your vocation. What led you to the priesthood?
Cardinal Bychok: I felt my vocation to monastic life at the age of 15, when I was still at school. The Redemptorist community helped me to recognize my vocation, as I regularly went to their parish in Ternopil to attend services. Later, I began to serve, travelling with the fathers on missions and retreats. The example of their lives and their great zeal in preaching the Word of God influenced me the most. Their devoted service to God and people aroused wonder and admiration, which later grew into a burning desire to be one of them.
From the stories of my first spiritual teacher, Fr. Mykhailo Shevchyshyn, I learned about the ministry of our fathers and brothers in the underground Church and about their endurance and courage in the difficult circumstances of that time. In turn, my second spiritual teacher, Fr. Volodymyr Vons, who was a representative of the younger generation of Redemptorists, became a living example for me of how one can fully dedicate one's young life to God. To this day, the Redemptorist community is of great importance to me.
What does it mean to you, who are from an Eastern Catholic Church, to become a cardinal, which is quite a Western Catholic tradition?
Cardinal Bychok: Yes, indeed, in our Church there is no such special rank in the hierarchy. For me, this appointment does not change who I was before, because I remain first and foremost the Bishop for Ukrainian Catholics in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania and a bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in unity with His Beatitude Patriarch Sviatoslav, our Father and Head, and my brother bishops in the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
I continue to work closely with my brother bishops in Australia, both of the Latin and Eastern traditions.
Some people might be surprised that the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was not made a cardinal and might imagine that His Beatitude felt unjustly overlooked, as some of his predecessors were cardinals. Why were you chosen rather than His Beatitude, and how does His Beatitude feel about it?
Cardinal Bychok: I spoke with His Beatitude Sviatoslav shortly after my nomination as a cardinal. He expressed his great joy and support, emphasizing that we will now have another voice in the Vatican that will help to convey the truth about Ukraine and our Church. The patriarch noted that we will act with “one heart and one mouth” to make our position heard at the highest level.
This appointment was a great challenge for me, and I am very grateful for His Beatitude's support. We are working together to make the voice of the Ukrainian Church heard in the global context.
Did Pope Francis or anyone from the Vatican indicate why he chose you? Do you have any thoughts on why?
Cardinal Bychok: For me, as for many, this appointment was a great surprise. Most expected either Patriarch Sviatoslav or one of our metropolitans to become a cardinal. But, as we know, the choice of a cardinal is a personal decision of the pope.
But it is difficult to find any explanation here, because each pontiff has his own line and, so to speak, his own way of electing certain bishops or even priests to cardinals. The strategy of Pope Francis was a little different from what we are all used to. On the one hand, this is good, because historically it was the case that most cardinals were in Europe, particularly in Italy. And now every continent has its own cardinal — not like it used to be.
But I don't know why I was nominated. Perhaps in a few years it will somehow be revealed to me, or the Lord will reveal it to me. On the other hand, to a certain extent, I somehow do not try to find an answer to this question. Just like when I was elected bishop. I was a Redemptorist monk, a priest, and I was the happiest person in the world because all my plans and dreams came true. However, the Lord had some plans of His own, even to elect me a bishop, for which I was not ready either. So, what plans does the Lord have for each of us, and in particular for me in this new ministry? Of course, time will tell.
What was your life like in Ukraine before you began serving overseas?
Cardinal Bychok: My life in Ukraine was much like that of my Redemptorist confreres — a life dedicated to missionary service and pastoral care. After being ordained a priest in 2005 in Lviv, I was sent to serve the Ukrainian faithful in Siberia, in the city of Prokopyevsk. [Ukrainian Greek Catholics live there because] in 1947, the Soviet authorities carried out the so-called Operation West, during which many people — both lay and clergy — were forcibly deported to Siberia for opposing the regime.
Upon returning to Ukraine, I continued working with young people, served as rector of a monastery and parish in Ivano-Frankivsk, and later took on the responsibility of treasurer for the Lviv Redemptorist Province. I believe that this experience of serving in different cities and countries shaped me through prayer and community, preparing me for the responsibilities that followed.
In 2015, I was sent to the United States, where I served for several years as the vicar of the Ukrainian Catholic parish of Saint John the Baptist in Newark, New Jersey. Then, in 2021, I arrived in Australia to begin my ministry as bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne.
Have you been back to Ukraine since the Russian invasion of 2022? Tell me about your experiences and observations. What are your thoughts and feelings about how this Russian invasion will end?
Cardinal Bychok: In the summer of 2024, I was on a visit to Ukraine, where I participated in the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, which took place in early July at the Marian Spiritual Center in Zarvanytsia. This was my first visit to Ukraine after the start of the full-scale war and after my move to Australia in general. It was very important for me to visit and support the people who have perhaps suffered the most from this war and are still suffering from it, so I was in Slavutych, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv. I wanted to experience for myself what people feel every day.
For example, on my first day in Kharkiv, we heard a lot of explosions. These deafening sounds accompanied us throughout the day — during the liturgy in the church and on the street. The sounds of explosions alternated with those of sirens. I spoke to people from Vovchansk. They shared impressive testimonies of their experiences; people saw with their own eyes how metal was melting and the earth was practically on fire. These people say they have lost everything; they have practically no place to live. And they want to return to their land.
So, despite the danger, I wanted to be really present there, to feel it, but also to show them that those faraway worlds — Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania — are not somewhere far away. They are [populated] with our people.
This year, I also visited Ukraine and, as before, visited cities and people who suffer daily from Russian aggression.
We pray that this war will end and that a just peace will come, when the victim of aggression will be vindicated and the aggressor will be justly punished.
How are your family and friends and former associates in Ukraine faring during this time of hardship?
Cardinal Bychok: When I was recently in Ukraine, visiting Lviv, Kyiv, Zaporizhia, and Slavutych, I met with my fellow Redemptorists, as well as with bishops and priests who minister in frontline areas. The consequences of this war cannot be fully calculated, but they are horrific: Hundreds of thousands killed, tens of thousands wounded, broken families, one million people forcibly deported to Russia, psychological trauma, and social and economic losses. It will take decades to rebuild.
On June 19, while travelling from Ukraine to Rome, I visited the Rehabilitation Center near Lviv, where soldiers and those released from captivity undergo rehabilitation with their families. I was struck by the words of Artur [a soldier who was helping to defend Azovstal, a steel plant in Mariupol that was besieged by Russian forces], who spent three years in captivity. He said, “Now, in freedom, I enjoy every walk around the city, breathe fresh air, look at the Ukrainian flag, and appreciate every sunrise and sunset.” For many of us, these are simple things, but for him, they are a breath of freedom. I think this is what my family and friends in Ukraine feel: Despite all the difficulties, they are doing everything possible to bring victory closer and trying to appreciate every day of their lives.
In what ways do you anticipate being able to serve the universal Church as a cardinal?
Cardinal Bychok: First of all, the Church must be active in being a mediator of a just world. Not only in Ukraine, but also in the Middle East and in other parts of the world that are experiencing war and conflict.
And second, we must fight secularization. As a priest who served in the USA and as a bishop in Australia, I have seen how secularization has affected society and the Church. We are called to be missionaries, to help people rediscover the love of God and his son Jesus Christ. I rediscover that the Church is a place of encounter with the living God in the most beautiful way through the Holy Sacraments — Confession and Holy Communion.
These two tasks are, of course, interconnected. Peace in the world will only come when people have peace in their hearts. True peace, which comes from the love of Christ.
Tell me about your experience participating in the election of a new pope. What did you feel you could contribute to this process from the perspective of an Eastern tradition?
Cardinal Bychok: It was both a tremendous privilege and solemn responsibility to take part in the conclave. That was the best time of my life. My phone was turned off for two and a half days. This period was a time of intense prayer for me — in particular for the Church, for the cardinal electors, and also for the person who would be elected as the next Holy Father.
During the conclave, there were many emotions, and I experienced what people call “goosebumps” on two occasions.
The first moment was in the Chapel of St. Paul, from where we processed to the Sistine Chapel. When the choir began to sing and the procession started, I felt those goosebumps. And I thought to myself, what is about to happen in just a few minutes? We are about to enter the Sistine Chapel, stand beneath the scene of the Last Judgment painted by the famous Michelangelo; the doors will be closed, and we will elect the Successor of the Apostle Peter. That was the first deeply emotional moment for me.
The second time was after the election had already taken place. We were waiting before going out onto the balcony, and then came the moment of the announcement of the new Holy Father and the name he had chosen — Leo XIV. It was something truly incredible. When you stand on the balcony and look out, you see hundreds of thousands of people who gathered to hear this joyful news, with cameras and journalists in the square, on rooftops, and in every available space. The view from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica was simply breathtaking.
What are some of your thoughts on what lies ahead for Pope Leo and what his response might be to the following:
–The ongoing war in Ukraine;
--The status of the Eastern Catholic Churches;
--The effort to restore full communion between Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
Cardinal Bychok: To be honest, during the conclave I did not have the opportunity to speak with Cardinal Prevost one-on-one. However, I did hear some of his public statements. When I approached the Holy Father for the first time, I introduced myself by saying, “I am the bishop for Ukrainians in Australia. You have greetings from Australia. I assure you of our prayers for your pontificate.” I also asked the Holy Father to remember Ukraine and to pray for a just peace and an end to the war in Ukraine.
Now, I think that the Pope's position on the war in Ukraine is no secret to anyone. The Pope has repeatedly mentioned Ukraine in his speeches and prayers.
I believe that his first message was already a powerful sign. He began by saying, “Peace be with all of you.” And I believe we have great hope — not only because the year 2025 has been declared a Year of Hope for the entire Catholic Church but because Pope Leo XIV will not only speak about hope; he will live it. This hope, in particular, will be seen in his commitment to just peace in Ukraine, but also in all parts of the world where war is raging. And not merely peace as the world gives, but peace that comes from Christ Himself.
I am convinced that Pope Leo will remain deeply faithful to the Gospel and the teachings of Christ. To be faithful to Christ means to stand with those who suffer, those who are forgotten or rejected. It also means fostering unity, as Christ taught us love, brotherhood, and the desire “that all may be one.”
