“Today we receive a mighty intercessor in heaven for our Church and Ukraine,” the Head of the UGCC on the day of the funeral of Benedict XVI
The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, in the person of the great Teacher and Father of the Church of our time, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, had a good father, a great friend who knew how to rejoice with Ukraine in its joys and feel pain in our pains. It is what the Father and Head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, said about Pope Benedict XVI on the day of his funeral, January 5, 2023, during the funeral Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav performed the funeral liturgy for Pope Benedict XVI at the same time as the funeral ceremonies were held in the Vatican. On that day, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church prayerfully united with the entire Catholic Church.
In his sermon, His Beatitude, Sviatoslav noted that we are sad because of separation at such moments, yet we thank the Lord for the gift of his life. “We had the special grace of seeing the great Teacher and Father of the Church of our time, one of the most profound theologians, who comforted the Church in the difficult circumstances of our time. We saw in him a great Christian thinker and, at the same time, a humble and modest person”.
The Head of the UGCC shared his memories and experience of meeting and communicating with Pope Benedict.
Pope Benedict XVI, according to the head of the UGCC, had a special trust in young people.
“The Pope appointed me a bishop when I was only 38 years old. He believed that I would cope. Even before leaving for Argentina, I went on an ‘Ad limina apostolorum’ visit together with the Argentine bishops. He was looking at me with such a gentle parental look. For almost a year, I was the youngest bishop of the Catholic Church. The trust the Holy Father expressed in me gave me the courage and strength to go forward,” told His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
When His Beatitude Sviatoslav was staying in Rome directly after his enthronement, Pope Benedict XVI greeted him in the Ukrainian language during a general audience in the Vatican and assured Ukrainians of his prayers: “The Pope greeted us in Ukrainian, and after this greeting, the entire ‘Ukrainian Rome’ assembled in Peter’s Square started to sing ‘Mnohaya lita!’. The Holy Father, hearing this, interrupted his speech and stood up. We all experienced a very moving moment of showing great respect for our Church, which was resurrected and began to speak with a young voice to the world.”
After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Pope Benedict was one of the first to write a letter of support to His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
“From the first moment, it was clear to him who was the criminal and his victim. In his prayers, the pope took the side of Ukraine and prayed for us all these months”, the Head of the UGCC emphasized.
The Head of the UGCC is convinced that soon the Catholic Church will proclaim Pope Benedict as the Teacher of the Church, a great intellectual of our time who “became a martyr for the truth, a witness of Christ’s truth in the post-truth world.”
Hence, His Beatitude Sviatoslav urged the faithful to pray for the glorification of Pope Benedict XVI.
The UGCC Department for Information
