Pope Leo XIV, during his first Regina Coeli, on the Good Shepherd Sunday and the day of prayer for vocations, tells young people: “Do not be afraid” to accept the proposal from the Church!
And days after the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, Pope Leo XIV repeats, “No more war!” He called for an authentic, true and lasting peace in Ukraine, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for humanitarian aid to be allowed in and all Israeli hostages freed.
“I chose to take the name Leo XIV. There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution. In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labour…” (Address to Cardinals, May 10, 2025)
The Eastern Catholic patriarchs sing the Panikhida prayers at Pope Francis’s funeral. The heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches were also present at Pope Benedict’s, St John Paul II’s and St John XXIII’s funeral.
The presence of Eastern Christianity –Catholic and Orthodox– demonstrates eloquently the universality and diversity of the Universal Church, a church breathing with both lungs.
The youngest cardinals at the Funeral of Pope Francis:
Left is Cardinal Américo Aguiar, Portugal, 51; Cardinal Mykola Bychok CSsR, Melbourne, 45; on the right is Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, IMC, Mongolia, 50.
Cardinal Mykola Bychok is the Eparch of the Ukrainian eparchy, Melbourne, Australia.
Photo courtesy of Cardinal Mykola Bychok.
The chapter of the UGCC with the Permanent Synod and the bishops of the Philadelphia Metropolis held a number of meetings at the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States and the Congress.
Photo by : o. Taras Zheplinsky
Patriarch Sviatoslav is in the USA with the bishops of the Permanent Synod this week.
The Divine Liturgy served by Patriarch Sviatoslav, the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia, here at the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome.
Most of the Eastern Catholic Bishops of the United States gathered in St. Louis, Missouri, March 22-23 to discuss issues of common concern including catechesis, evangelization efforts, and temporal issues. Participants included Ukrainian Catholic, Byzantine, Maronite, Melkite, Syro-Malabar, and Chaldean bishops.
Archbishop Borys Gudziak made a presentation to the bishops on the situation in Ukraine and the Metropolia Humanitarian Aid Fund. The bishops present pledged their spiritual solidarity with the suffering people of Ukraine, and their financial support. They issued a joint appeal for peace in Ukraine. A Ukrainian Catholic Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the evening of March 22 in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis with Archbishop Borys presiding. St. Louis Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski gave a stirring homily.
Bishop Bohdan Danylo of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma presented the 2030 Pastoral Program of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ‘The Hope to Which the Lord Calls Us’ and provided bishops with materials for its implementation. He focused on three points: closeness and practical attention to the poor and marginalized, the path to curing wounds and healing traumas, and the Christian family – a domestic Church.
The group thanked Bishop Kurt Burnette of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, for his leadership during the six last years. At that meeting, the bishops chose a new board. Bishop Bohdan Danylo was elected as the new president of the association of Eastern Catholic Bishops. Vice-president will be Bishop Frank Yohanna Kalabat of the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas in Detroit. Bishop Paul Chomnycky of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford will serve as secretary, and Bishop Francois Beyrouti of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton – as treasurer. Bishop Kurt Burnette is a trustee of the Eastern Catholic Association.
The Eastern Catholic Bishops will gather as a group in November at the annual meeting of all Catholic Bishops in the United States, and again next March in St. Louis.
Please watch a short documentary made by the Ukrainian Catholic University.
