Free Republic

“Today, Russia ranks among the worst violators of religious freedom and human rights,” Ambassador Callista Gingrich said during a roundtable discussion on Ukraine held at the US embassy in Rome. “There is no sign that its persecution of religious minorities and foreign missionaries is coming to an end.” “Russia routinely conducts sham trials to persecute Ukrainians,” she explained. “Religious freedom also remains heavily constricted in areas of Ukraine under Russian occupation and control." The ambassador is married to former House of Representatives Speaker, Newt Gingrich, an adviser and ally of the president, who has repeatedly stressed there is no evidence...

Gregory III Laham, the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem and All the East, has proudly declared: “We, the Arab Christians, always defend Islam and our Muslim brothers – no one defends Islam like the Arab Christians do.”

Ukraine Cardinal Wants Synod With Orthodox By DANIELA PETROFF, Associated Press Writer VATICAN CITY - A senior Ukrainian cardinal said Monday there was little dividing the Catholic and Orthodox Christian faiths and suggested that the pope call a meeting of the world's bishops to discuss the Eastern rite within the Catholic Church. Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, made the suggestion in a speech to a three-week meeting of the world's bishops that is designed to give the pope recommendations on running the church. Eastern rite Catholic churches share many Orthodox rituals but are loyal...

Church move to Kiev fuels rivalry Ukraine's Eastern-rite Catholics have moved the headquarters of their church to the capital, Kiev, amid protests by some 300 mainly Orthodox believers. The head of the Greek Catholic Church, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, held a Mass for some 1,000 believers to mark the move from the western city of Lviv. Eastern-rite Catholics follow Orthodox ritual but bear allegiance to the Pope. The move could strain ties between the Vatican and Russia's Orthodox Church, which has huge influence in Ukraine. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, had earlier described it as an...

Call for reconciliation between Polish and Ukrainian churches 19.06.2005 A beatification mass of three Polish priests was held in Warsaw this morning. An important element of the ceremony was a joint prayer for the reconciliation between Poland and Ukraine. The head of the Polish episcopate archbishop Jozef Michalik spoke about the letter calling for forgiveness and reconciliation between the Polish Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Church leaders from Poland and Ukraine signed the historic declaration on Saturday aimed at healing past grievances and wounds between Poles and Ukrainians. Poland’s primate cardinal Jozef Glemp and Ukraine’s Greek Catholic...

Saturday February 21, 2004 VATICAN SAYS IT WILL NOT SET UP PATRIARCHATE IN UKRAINE (AGI) – Vatican City, Feb 21st – Pope John Paul II will not set up a Greek-Catholic patriarchate in Ukraine as this might hurt the Russian Greek-Orthodox community, who would perceive it as an attempt at imposing Roman Catholic interests in an area which traditionally belongs to the Church of Moscow. This is according to a note issued today by the Press Department of the Holy See on the strength of the decisions made in the 19th February meeting among the Head of Foreign Relations at...