EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). Uniate hierarchs—leaders of Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome—were honored through prominent participation and visible roles that underscored Pope Francis’s commitment to ecumenism in yesterday’s funeral. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, led a delegation of bishops attending the funeral. Other notable Eastern Catholic hierarchs included Archbishop Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia, Cardinal Mykola Bychok of Melbourne, Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski of London, and Bishop Hryhoriy Komar, Apostolic Administrator of the Ukrainian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Italy. Their participation underscored Pope Francis’s efforts to increase the visibility of Eastern Catholic Churches within the broader Catholic community.
The inclusion of Eastern Catholic leaders in the funeral rites served as a testament to Pope Francis’s vision of a Church that embraces its diverse traditions, while also underscoring Pope Francis’s ecumenist views. As you will see in the video below (with English subtitles), this caused adverse reactions in Greece, as expressed by right-wing political leader Kyriakos Velopoulos. It is more than sure that in other countries, such as Romania, it will re-ignite memories of the prosecution of Eastern Orthodox faithful by the Ujniates that have left a very heavy mark on local populations…
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Interesting you did not note that Patriarch Bartholomew held a place of honor at the funeral. It was wonderful to see the Byzantine Rite Catholics in a place of honor and given the opportunity to chant and to offer prayers from the Trisagion service–very moving.
Of course they will honor their fellow Ecumenist, the “Pope of the East”. God so far damaged their heretic plans… we the faithful can do the rest.
Patriarch/Cardinal/Major Archbishop Bartholomew is such a riot!
Of course the pseudo-Orthodox were given a place of primacy and honor and why the aspirational eastern pope, the EP, was not shown. The most potent weapon in any Information War is the image, both seen and unseen.
They were dressed like Orthodox, chanted in Greek, had beards, but never forget, these are wolves in sheep’s clothing. What is lacking is true belief. The Pope of Rome will accept anyone into the Roman Catholic Church-Nestorian, Coptic, Orthodox, Anglican etc as long as they pledge a feudal fealty to the Pope, who they believe is infallible. They believe God whispers beliefs in the Pope’s ear that we must follow to be saved. In the Orthodox Church we are a confederation of national churches-Greek Russian, Arabic etc united in the same beliefs. Decisions in the Orthodox Church are arrived at in a conciliatory manner. All the bishops meet and make decisions guided by the Holy Spirit. Beware of false unity. Yes you, Patriarch Bartholomew. You have created serious tensions in God’s Church that have the potential to create permanent schisms. Forget about Rome and the common date of Easter. As an Orthodox bishop your job is the defend the faith handed down from the Apostles through true Orthodox bishops for 2,000. Your job also as the shepherd of the flock is to protect your sheep from fake bishops and phony doctrines. Jesus Christ-the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Christ is Risen!