Head of UGCC meets in Rome with Catholic hierarchs of Kazakhstan

On March 1, at the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Rome, Patriarch Sviatoslav met with the Roman Catholic bishops of Kazakhstan and the apostolic administrator in this country for the Greek Catholics Fr. Vasyl Hovera. Within a few days, the Catholic bishops of Kazakhstan visited the tombs of the Holy Apostles in Rome. This is reported by the Department of Information of the UGCC.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav familiarized the guests with the history of the Cathedral of St. Sophia, told them about the martyr path of Patriarch Josyf Slipyi and the "Roman period" of his activities. He also got the bishops acquainted with the contemporary life of the cathedral community, as well as the structural development of the UGCC in Italy, and told them about its pastoral ministry among Ukrainian migrants.

Patriarch Sviatoslav appealed to the bishops to support the UGCC in Kazakhstan and “cherish the spirit of brotherly relations between Catholics of Latin and Eastern rites.” There are 5 Greek Catholic communities registered in Kazakhstan: Karaganda, Astana, Pavlodar, Shederti (Pavlodar region), Satbaev. In addition, there are 10 more communities in other areas where the priests come on a regular basis. The community is not registered in the city of Almaty, but there is a priest who constantly serves there. In all, there are 9 priests in this country, an apostolic visitor for the Greek Catholics is Fr. Vasyl Hovera.

In addition, the visit of the ad limina apostolorum bishops of Central Asia takes place in the Vatican from February 25 to March 5.

On March 1, the bishops had an opportunity to meet with Pope Francis.