Ecumenical Patriarch: 'Ukraine is in every beat of our heart'

"The situation in Ukraine is in every beat of our heart," Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople told the Catholic News Service.

"We pray without ceasing for peaceful and nonviolent means to be employed by all parties. We know that there are those who would divide the Ukrainian people along religious lines - Catholic against Orthodox and even Orthodox against Orthodox. Such a sad and cynical strategy will fail, because it underestimates the nobility of Ukraine and her glorious Christian history. The roots of faith go deep in the rich soil of Ukraine, which has brought forth great exemplars of faith. What remains to be seen is how the precious Ukrainian people will align their own destiny with such a wondrous past. How their identity shapes their national consciousness and spiritual values must be allowed to evolve in a positive and peaceful way. Any other solution for Ukraine will destroy the fragile democracy that has barely emerged from the crushing atheistic Soviet era," the patriarch said about the situation in Ukraine.