Head of Ukrainian Catholic Church meets with Pope Leo, calls Ukraine 'wounded but alive'

(OSV News) -- The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church met with Pope Leo XIV, briefing the pope on the situation in Ukraine as Russia's full-scale invasion reaches the four-year mark.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk spoke with Pope Leo at the Apostolic Palace Feb. 12, the second personal audience the prelate has had since meeting with the pope days after his election, said the UGCC press office in an update released shortly after the meeting.

During his most recent papal meeting, Major Archbishop Shevchuk thanked Pope Leo for the "solidarity and support" he has shown to Ukraine.

That support has included diplomatic efforts by the Vatican to end the conflict and to secure the return of prisoners of war. Major Archbishop Shevchuk provided Pope Leo with lists of prisoners and missing persons whose names he had received from families.

Under both Pope Leo and the late Pope Francis, the Vatican has also worked for the return of thousands of Ukrainian children who have been systematically deported by Russia, forcibly stripped of their Ukrainian identity and placed for adoption in Russian families, with many children militarized.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and child commission Maria Lvova-Belova for the deportations, which began in 2014 and which violate international law.

Major Archbishop Shevchuk thanked Pope Leo for the Vatican's "important mission in saving human lives, in which the Holy See has been systematically involved since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine," said the UGCC press office.

Pope Leo and Major Archbishop Shevchuk also discussed the UGCC's pastoral ministry amid Russia's ongoing attacks, which continue assaults launched in 2014, and which have been declared a genocide in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.

Russia's most recent assaults have particularly targeted civilian infrastructure and energy systems amid winter.

Speaking to Ukrainian Catholics in Rome during a Feb. 8 Divine Liturgy, Major Archbishop Shevchuk -- referencing the dire conditions faced by Ukrainians lacking heat -- said, "I have come to you today from frozen but indomitable Kyiv as a witness to the indomitability of our people."

Major Archbishop Shevchuk said that Pope Leo "was impressed that our Church has developed and is actively implementing its pastoral plan 'Healing the Wounds of War.'"

The plan seeks to address the physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of Russia's war on Ukraine. In the U.S., the UGCC's Archeparchy of Philadelphia has a dedicated charitable fund of the same name for projects associated with the pastoral plan.

Pope Leo was also pleased that the UGCC "is a space of solidarity and unity that unites Ukrainians in Ukraine with the global Ukrainian community," said Major Archbishop Shevchuk.

The two also reflected on the global reach of the UGCC, with Major Archbishop Shevchuk stressing that "our local Church of Kyiv Christianity is Ukrainian in origin, but it is not a Church only for Ukrainians -- instead, it is open to the proclamation of the Gospel to all peoples, precisely thanks to its full visible communion with the Successor of the Apostle Peter."

At the conclusion of his audience, Major Archbishop Shevchuk extended once again an invitation to Pope Leo to visit Ukraine.

He also presented the pope with "The Dove of Peace in Time of War," a ceramic sculpture by Italian artist and cardiologist Luciano Capriotti.

The work includes a metal fragment from a Russian missile leveled at the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Reflecting on the piece, Major Archbishop Shevchuk said, "This wound provokes great pain for the bird, but we see that it is not dead -- it is alive.

"This is a beautiful symbol of modern wounded but alive Ukraine," he said.

Speaking to OSV News shortly after meeting with Pope Leo, Major Archbishop Shevchuk said he had obtained "a special blessing of the Holy Father to me, for the people of Ukraine and for the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church."