"UKRAINE IS READY TO RECEIVE POPE FRANCIS PROMPTLY AT ANY TIME—YURASH
Religiina Pravda, 10 February 2022
A visit by Roman Pope Francis to Ukraine would testify to the independence of Ukraine for the western world and stress the important contemporary geopolitical role of our state.
Such is the opinion expressed by the Ukrainian ambassador to the Vatican, Andrei Yurash, in an interview with RISU [Religion News Service of Ukraine].
"Ukraine is ready to receive the pope at any time, even quite right away. Of course, it should not be too short an interval of time, because it is necessary to be prepared. But if there is a statement by church leaders of the two Catholic churches in Ukraine to the effect of what the pope will do in the near future, then I think that this should be heeded and understood that such statements would not have been made if they were not based on concrete grounds," Yurash noted.
He added that "the pope is a man of a charismatic spirit. He is very sincere, spontaneous, and he absolutely understands everything. It is his immediate desire to be useful just in the specific moment and in the concrete circumstances. It can be formalized and implemented within the context of the celebration of some date or in accordance with circumstances that suddenly arise, that is, very unexpectedly and very unpredictably."
The ambassador recalled that the pope, in his Christmas message Urbi et Orbi mentioned Ukraine, just as in several Sunday prayers he devoted great attention specifically to Ukraine. Considering the urgent situation around Ukraine, Pope Francis proclaimed 26 January to be a Day of Prayer for Peace, and at the time of a visit with pilgrims in the Vatican on 9 February he thanked everybody who had heeded his call for prayer for Ukraine, calling war unthinkable.
"Ukraine is the focus of attention of the Holy Father. This shows him to be a real world spiritual leader, who feels his responsibility for the world, for the whole of humanity, for civilization, for the whole system of values within the framework of which the Christian tradition exists. Therefore we have every basis to say and to suppose that in the near future the expectation of the pope in our state may be accomplished," Andrei Yurash summer up.
The ambassador also emphasized that now Ukraine is at the highest point of attention on the part of the world community.
"The main point that is now sounding at all levels and in all contexts is formulated thus: if previously, at the start of the war with Russia, Ukraine needed the West, then now the West needs Ukraine. Because Ukraine is mobilizing the entire western world for the struggle for democratic values, and this world is beginning to understand all the more, thanks to Ukraine, the weight and significance of those principles which are basic for it, but for objective reasons have already lost their urgency and independent value. But Ukraine is ready to fight for them. Its citizens are ready to die on Maidan; they are still dying at the front. Therefore Ukraine now has maximum support on the part of the world community. Ukraine is not allowing the West, so to speak, to fall asleep. Therefore, the pope's visit is a gesture and a testimony of our belonging to the western world. Within these parameters we guarantee, even in the circumstances of war, even in circumstances of fearsome opposition, such possibilities of the free development of all subjects of the social process, guaranteeing even western society, which does not have either a war or such serious economic challenges. That is, when we talk about Ukraine and the western world, then there is no doubt that we are talking about the logic of cooperation of equal partners who realize their objective dependence upon one another." (Tr. by PDS, posted 10 February 2022)
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