Joining hundreds of thousands of Eastern Christians in Kyjiv Monday morning, Pope John Paul II emphasized the importance of different traditions within the universal church. "There is a plurality of traditions, rites, canonical disciplines, which far from undermining the unity of the Body of Christ, on the contrary enrich it with the gifts brought by each one."
Repeatedly quoting Jesus' prayer for unity in the Gospel of John "that they may all be one", the Pope exhorted Greek Catholic Cardinal Husar and Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaworksi, the leaders of Ukraine's two Catholic Churches, to continue their cooperation.
"Your living side by side in charity should become a model of a unity that exists within a legitimate pluralism and has its guarantee in the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter."
The Pontiff recognized the Kyjivan land as the wellspring of numerous witnesses of Christian holiness. For him, the Ukrainian Church's history of martyrdom and its most recent period testify that the spiritual roots of Christianity in Ukraine are deep and able to face present challenges.
Now is the time, said the Pope, for the country's citizens to commit themselves, "as Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky liked to recall, to the goal of `rebuilding their own home'. "For ten years, your country has been a free and independent state. These ten years have shown that despite the temptations linked to crime and corruption, its spiritual roots are strong."
25.06.2001 (15:20) // Religious Information Service of Ukraine
25. juni 2001