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The Catholic world has come to expect surprises from Pope Francis, and each time he announces a new set of cardinals, there are certainly unexpected appointments.
The naming of a Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishop in Australia comes with several surprises.
The most obvious is the fact that the major archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was “passed over” for a “red hat” only to see a bishop of an eparchy far from the Church’s seat in Ukraine receive one.
Since his own election in 2011 as head and father of the Church, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, 54, has seen Pope Francis announce the creation of cardinals 10 times. His immediate three predecessors – Cardinals Josyf Slipyj, Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky, and Lubomyr Husar – all had red hats. Even after Cardinal Husar’s death in 2017, Sviatoslav still had not become a cardinal.
This week, His Beatitude Sviatoslav showed no sign of envy when the news was announced. In fact, he saw only the positive in it.
“Naming new cardinals is a personal and sovereign right of a pope. By nominating someone as a cardinal, he invites that person to become his assistant,” Sviatoslav said in an interview with the official publication of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “I received this news with great joy. We always rejoice when our bishops grow. Bishop Mykola is one of the younger bishops of our Church, and we are only happy that the Pope has noticed him. This signifies that our Church is nominating new candidates for the episcopal order with great dignity and responsibility, representing the best of the Catholic episcopate in the world.”
Sviatoslav added that the Church now will have another voice – aside from his own – to “competently appeal to the Pope and defend our Church and the people of Ukraine.”
Grace
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sviatoslav has made regular appeals to Pope Francis for support of Ukraine. The two men originally got to know one another in Argentina, when Pope Francis was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, and Sviatoslav – like Bishop Bychok – was head of a far-flung Ukrainian Catholic eparchy.
Their friendship has perdured into their new situations, but apparently has been strained at times because of Francis’ efforts to maintain an open door with Moscow. Sviatoslav has spoken out strongly on several occasions, as if to correct Francis’ appraisal of Russian culture and apparent openness to Russian justification for the war.
When Bychok was named to the College of Cardinals, Sviatoslav said,
“Today, our episcopate, convened in the UGCC Synod of Bishops and comprised of bishops from around the world, is more united than ever. We have shown this through various crises that have emerged since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, and we speak with one heart and one voice to Pope Francis, to the Catholic Church in the world, and to the international community. To have another such speaker with the possibilities of cardinal dignity, also in Australia, is not only a significant benefit for the UGCC, but also a wonderful grace of God for our nation and state.”
Ecumenical concerns
For all the speculation about Francis’s motivations for passing over his old friend from Buenos Aires, it could very well be that Sviatoslav actually had been offered a red hat – and declined.
As a primate of one of the Catholic Church’s 23 Eastern Churches, he is keen to foster better relationships with Sister Churches in the Orthodox Communion. Orthodox observe how Rome treats her Eastern Catholic Churches, and any hint of absorption or control would give pause to ecumenical dialogue.
Sviatoslav wants to demonstrate in his own office that the Orthodox tradition of full autonomy of Churches would be respected by Rome in any future restoration of communion. The "dignity" of cardinal, being very much a Latin (Roman) tradition, is not going to help him in that effort.
Asked in 2019 what he would do if he were offered a red hat, he said,
“Perhaps the most prominent head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of the 20th century, Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky, was not a cardinal. So that dignity, that mission, that duty of the cardinal is not something which I would need in order to be a good head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. But that is a special service to the Holy Father, assisting him in his mission. So, if one day the Holy Father asks me to assist him, well, I’ll try to do my best. But it is not something I desire or need in order to be a good shepherd, a good father for my flock.”
Youngest cardinal
The second surprise in the naming of Cardinal Bychok is his age. At 44, he will become, on December 8, the youngest member of the College.
The date of the consistory – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – comes just two days after the Feast of St. Nicholas, Bishop Mykola’s patron saint (Mykola is the Ukrainian form of Nicholas).
A youthful cardinal named for a beloved bishop-saint whose name always evokes the joys of youth is a sign of hope for ecclesial rejuvenation.
For his part, Bishop Mykola said he was greatly surprised by the appointment, which he regards as a “great privilege.” According to the same official Church publication, Bishop Mykola said,
“This is not a privilege granted to me personally, but a privilege granted by Pope Francis to the entire Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Catholic Church in Australia.”
Down Under?
Which leads to the third surprise: How did there come to be a Ukrainian eparchy in Australia, of all places?
Large numbers of Ukrainians began settling in Australia prior to the First World War, but even larger numbers came after the Second World War, as part of the International Refugee Organization resettlement of displaced persons, many coming by way of refugee camps in Germany. In 1958, the Church established the Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainians of the Byzantine Rite in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.
By 1963, the Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was built. Patriarch Joseph Slipyj, who lived in exile in Rome, visited the cathedral in 1968.
In 1982, Pope John Paul II raised the Exarchate of Melbourne to the level of an Eparchy.
The number of migrants from Soviet Ukraine was minimal, but when Ukraine gained independence in 1991, many young professionals in the fields of science, mathematics and computer technology went “Down Under.”
Then, since March 2022, Australia has granted 8,500 visas to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.
The eparchy encompasses all of Australia and the islands of Oceania, for a total area of 8,919,530 square kilometers, according to its website. The eparchy has a population of 7,250 faithful who belong to 10 parish centers and 11 missions. Pastoral care is provided by 20 priests and three deacons.
In the footsteps of martyrs
Bishop Mykola is the first cardinal in history born in the 1980s – on February 13, 1980 in Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine. At the age of 17, he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer – the Redemptorists – an order with a long history in Ukraine. During the Soviet period, the Redemptorists were one group that kept the “underground” Catholic Church going, and some of its members met martyrdom. The current war has seen Redemptorists called to witness to their faith in a radical way as well.
Fr. Mykola received monastic and theological formation in Ukraine and Poland, and received a license in pastoral theology. After taking final vows on August 17, 2003, he was ordained a priest on May 3, 2005.
As a priest, he performed various pastoral ministries, was the abbot of the Redemptorist Fathers Monastery and a parish in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, and a provincial official. From 2015-2020, he served at the parish of St. John the Baptist in Newark, New Jersey, under the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia.
On January 15, 2020, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had appointed him as the new Eparch of the Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul in Melbourne, following the retirement of Bishop Peter Stasiuk. His episcopal ordination took place on June 7, 2020, at St. George’s Cathedral in Lviv, Ukraine, with His Beatitude Sviatoslav as the main consecrator.
Cardinal-elect Bychok was not available for an interview with Aleteia, according to an eparchial spokeswoman. But in a statement, he said he would endeavor to
“follow the worthy example of my predecessor Cardinals: Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj, who, after his release after 18 years in a Soviet gulag and moving to Rome, became the voice of our Church in the free world and, using various forums, emphasized the persecution of the Churches in the USSR and called for more radical actions to protect the rights of believers.”
Continuing in that tradition, he said, “Myroslav Cardinal Lubachivsky, who returned to lead the Church in Ukraine, despite his advanced years and physical frailty, set in place the structures and institutions that helped our Church to transition from persecution to freedom.”
And finally, he added, “His Beatitude Lubomyr Cardinal Husar, thanks to whom the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, after emerging from the catacombs and re-establishing in Western Ukraine, returned the seat of the Archbishop Major from Lviv to Kyiv. Under his leadership, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church began to establish [itself in] Central, Eastern, and Southern Ukraine.”
“I understand how much responsibility this appointment entrusts to me,” Bishop Mykola said. “Responsibility for the life and future of our entire Church. Knowing the difficult times that our Ukrainian people are going through because of the war, I will continue to inform the Catholic world about what is happening in our land and constantly remind them of Ukraine.”
