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Apostolic Nunciature: The Holy See did not and will not provide any assessment of creation of One Local Orthodox Church in Ukraine

27.09.2018, 08:07
The official website of the Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine made an amendment to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine that the Holy See respects the decision of the Ukrainian people to establish the One Local Church.

The official website of the Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine made an amendment to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine that the Holy See respects the decision of the Ukrainian people to establish the One Local Church.

The text of the message: "In order to partially correct the news provided yesterday by the government source, speaking about a meeting between Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary of the Department for Relations with the States and Mr. Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Apostolic Nunciature in Ukraine reaffirms the position repeatedly expressed by the Holy See, for which the issue of the creation of one Ukrainian Orthodox Local Church is an internal matter of the Orthodox Church, in relation to which the Holy See has not given or does not intend to give any opinion anywhere.”

As reported. on September 25, within the framework of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin met with Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary of State for Inter-State Relations of the Holy See, the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reports.

There was an exchange of views on the process of granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Holy See respects the decision of the Ukrainian people to create the one local church. The Ukrainian side stressed that the Tomos, as the first step towards a new church, would become an act of deep historical justice and a harbinger of peace, unity and harmony, strengthening the constitutional principle of freedom of religion and protecting the rights and freedoms of the Ukrainian people. This process has already begun and returning to the “status quo” is impossible.

As stated by the Foreign Ministry, the support of the Holy See and a clear position regarding the provision of the Tomos are an important step for strengthening the interreligious dialogue.