The Uniates decided to please Zelensky since Poroshenko lost
As part of a planned series of meetings with the heads of Ukrainian religious denominations, newly elected President Vladimir Zelensky spoke with the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) His Beatitude Svyatoslav at his residence in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The press service of the UGCC reported this.
It is noted that the head of the UGCC congratulated Zelensky “on his election to the presidential service, as well as the manifestation of great confidence in him by the Ukrainian people.”
The bishop assured that the church is open to cooperation on a partnership basis.
The elected president, in turn, thanked the head of the UGCC for “the service that is carried out in the uncontrolled territories of Donbass and in the annexed Crimea.”
Zelensky and Archbishop Svyatoslav also discussed the problem of mass emigration of young people from Ukraine and the role of the church in providing spiritual care for emigrants and supporting their connection with their homeland - topics that are relevant for Galicia, the region where the parishes of the UGCC are most represented.
Let us note that the UGCC, along with the OCU, which is subordinate to Constantinople, during the elections took a position of active support for Zelensky’s rival Petro Poroshenko. The priests of the UGCC openly campaigned for the outgoing president and spoke out against the election of Zelensky. And the rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, which belongs to the UGCC, Miroslav Marinovich, was one of Poroshenko’s confidants. So, on Zelensky’s part, the current meeting is an attempt to start a dialogue with this Church from scratch. For the UGCC, this is an attempt to fit into the new political reality, in the face of Poroshenko’s loss, on whom the Uniates placed their bets. It is not surprising that the tone of statements addressed to the newly elected president has changed dramatically.
“The head of the UGCC showed Zelensky a book about the history of his church: “And here is Metropolitan Sheptytsky, he sent greetings to both Stalin and Hitler. Therefore, don’t worry, just as we licked Poroshenko, we will lick you too,” Western Ukrainian political scientist and blogger Oleg Khavich sneers on his social network page.
It should be noted that earlier Vladimir Zelensky met with the heads of the canonical and non-canonical Orthodox denominations of the UOC and OCU, Metropolitans Onufriy and Epifaniy, with the leaders of the Muslim community and the Council of Rabbis of Ukraine.
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