Pope Francis seen as strong promoter of Eastern Catholic traditions, liturgy, mission

(OSV News) -- Eastern Catholic leaders are remembering Pope Francis for bringing significant attention to their churches and traditions throughout his papacy, in a legacy marked by fraternity and many firsts, while marked with some tensions at times.

The pope -- who died April 21 at age 88 after a 12-year pontificate -- was "a fan of the East," said Ines A. Murzaku, professor of ecclesiastical history and founding chair of the Department of Catholic Studies at Seton Hall University.

That affection traced its roots to the pope's native Argentina, where, as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he was the ordinary for Eastern-rite faithful, who at the time had no bishop of their own in that nation.

Murzaku told OSV News that Pope Francis called for Catholics in the Latin Church "to turn East and learn," particularly by starting with Eastern Catholic churches "in their own backyard."

"Not many Westerners know of the Catholic East -- and that these churches are as Catholic as the Western Churches," said Murzaku.

The Latin Church -- led by the pope as the bishop of Rome -- is the largest of the 24 self-governing churches that together, in communion with the pope, make up the worldwide Catholic Church with its 1.3 billion baptized members. But the 23 Eastern Catholic churches, with their own rites and traditions, are "here to stay -- to be encountered, dialogued (with) and appreciated," said Murzaku, who holds a research doctorate from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

She said Pope Francis was "very supportive of the Catholic East." Murzaku said it was consistent with his theology of reaching to those on the peripheries as the Eastern churches have been left to the peripheries of the Latin Church, "often misunderstood and their faith and fidelity to Rome questioned."

In the early 20th century, that tension led to a Vatican ban -- spelled out in the 1929 decree "Cum Data Fuerit" -- on the service of married Greek Catholic priests in the U.S., after objections by Latin bishops. While both married and celibate priests have historically been normative in the various Eastern Catholic churches, the prohibition was by 1930 extended to all Eastern Catholic clergy in North and South America, as well as Australia.

Pope Francis lifted the ban in 2014, in a move that "helped heal a wound," Bishop Gregory J. Mansour of the Maronite Eparchy of St. Maron in Brooklyn, New York, told OSV News.

Bishop Mansour said although he personally looks "to preserve our celibate priests" in his eparchy, the pope's reversal of the prohibition "helped me (and) it helped several other Eastern Catholic churches."

Retired Bishop Nicholas J. Samra of the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton in Massachusetts told OSV News the pope's decision had been "a blessing" that enabled him to ultimately ordain some "18 to 20" men to the priesthood in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church for their U.S. communities, many of which would have lacked priests to serve them otherwise.

At multiple points in his papacy, Pope Francis strengthened the canon law of the Eastern Catholic churches, and sought to harmonize the Latin Church's canon law with it. One such change prohibited deacons of the Latin Church from officiating at weddings where one or both spouses is an Eastern Catholic, since in the Eastern tradition a priest's blessing is necessary for a valid sacramental marriage.

Both Bishop Mansour and Bishop Samra also pointed to the Synod on Synodality as another example of Pope Francis' embrace of Eastern Catholics.

The Synod on Synodality's first session at the Vatican in November 2023 called the "Latinization" of the Eastern Catholic churches outdated, and proposed a permanent council of patriarchs and major archbishops responsible to the pope, with adequate representation of Eastern Catholics throughout the Roman Curia.

"I think he really understood synodality, what it means to be a synodal church from the East, and he kept trying to get the Latin Church to think in those terms," said Bishop Mansour.

Bishop Samra said that "interest in the Eastern churches" reflected an attempt "to develop more involvement of our synods, rather than (having) Rome pontificating over our synods."

An additional improvement came in the manner of announcing Eastern Catholic bishops, said Bishop Samra.

Typically, the papal nuncio handles notifying candidates of appointments, but Bishop Samra said that thanks to Pope Francis the Vatican "went back to the proper tradition of (first) telling the (Eastern Catholic) patriarch," who now advises the candidate of the news directly.

Russia's war on Ukraine -- begun in 2014, and devastatingly accelerated by Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 -- tested the pope's relations with Ukrainian Greek Catholics, in a dynamic described by religion historian Anatolii Babynskyi as "a tightrope walk."

Still, as he headed to Rome for Pope Francis' funeral, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the father and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said in an April 23 statement, "I am a witness to how the Holy Father did everything in his power as the Vicar of Christ on earth to stop the war. I am convinced that now in heaven he has even more opportunities, even understanding and awareness, to help Ukraine."

Just a month after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 -- which continued attacks launched in 2014 -- Pope Francis consecrated Ukraine and Russia to Mary, asking the universal church's bishops and priests to join him. Throughout the war, he offered repeated prayers for the "martyred" and "long-suffering" Ukrainian people, and he chastised Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill for his endorsement of the aggression, telling the patriarch he was "not Putin's altar boy."

Under Pope Francis, the Vatican provided consistent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, with papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski personally driving a medical vehicle blessed by the pope to Ukraine. The Vatican helped mediate the release of two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests from Russian captivity and torture, and worked, with some effect, to secure the return of some of the tens of thousands of Ukrainians held prisoner by Russia -- including children.

Yet a number of comments and gestures by the pope with respect to Russia at times worked to strain relations with Ukrainian Catholics and with the wider Ukrainian populace, particularly when he encouraged Russian Catholic youth in a 2023 video call to "never give up" their heritage as "heirs of the great Russia."

The remarks drew a swift response from Major Archbishop Shevchuck, who said in a statement that in the context of Russia's war on Ukraine, the comments could further "inspire the neocolonial ambitions of the aggressor country." The Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops subsequently met with the pope, who listened at length to their concerns and said, "The fact that you doubted whom the pope is with was particularly painful for the Ukrainian people. I want to assure you of my solidarity with you and constant prayerful closeness. I am with the Ukrainian people."

Amid the war, Pope Francis elevated Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop Mykola Bychok to cardinal, a move both welcomed and wondered at. Some observers speculated whether the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church would be officially recognized as a patriarchate and Major Archbishop Shevchuk elevated to patriarch, although neither ultimately came to pass during the pontificate.

Pope Francis' 2021 visit to Iraq -- the first made by any pope -- was "a brave act of magnanimity" that "marked a turning point" for the country's Christian minority, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar M. Warda of Irbil, Iraq, told OSV News.

While there, Pope Francis met with Chaldean and Syriac Catholics, as well as Muslim and Christian leaders, prayed at Abraham's birthplace in Ur, and celebrated Mass for thousands in Irbil.

"His presence shined a rare light on Iraq's suffering communities and reminded them that the world -- and the church -- had not forgotten them," Archbishop Warda said.

The pope undertook the trip at significant risk, later revealing in his autobiography "Hope" that he had survived two thwarted assassination attempts during the apostolic journey.

The impact of that visit is still palpable, acting as "a call to continue, to stay rooted, to believe in their future," said Archbishop Warda. "Since then, many Christian leaders have spoken of a renewed spirit, a sense that they are not simply surviving, but have a role to play in rebuilding Iraqi society."

Pope Francis also urged unity among Syro-Malabar Catholics, whose India-based church was founded by St. Thomas the Apostle and has seen painful divisions over their synod's implementation of a uniform mode of celebrating the liturgy, also known as the Holy Qurbana (a liturgy equivalent to the Mass in the Latin Church). Pope Francis supported the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church's reform, which would have the priest face East, in line with the church's ancient tradition and consistent with the call of the Second Vatican Council, during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, while facing the people at other parts of the Holy Qurbana. The Syro-Malabar liturgy was prominently featured at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.

However, many Syro-Malabar Catholics have rejected the synod's reform, insisting their priests imitate the Latin Church's typical celebration of Mass, which, after Vatican II, saw the priest and people face each other through the entirety of the liturgy, a change from typically always facing East together.

Acknowledging that Western missionaries had often shown "insensitivity" to India's ancient Christian heritage, the pope commended Syro-Malabar the faithful for the "vigor of their faith and piety."

Noting the horrors of the Armenian genocide -- which he described as "a true martyrdom of your people, in which many innocent people died as confessors and martyrs for the name of Christ" -- Pope Francis named the 10th-century Armenian monk St. Gregory of Narek in 2015 as a doctor of the church, to the delight of Armenian Catholics.

In a 2024 meeting with Syro-Malabar Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil of Ernakulam-Angamaly, Pope Francis summed up his view of Eastern Catholics, saying, "The Christian East allows us to draw from ancient and ever new sources of spirituality; these become fresh springs that bring vitality to the church."