Castel Gandolfo, Sep. 27, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI stressed "the unity of Catholics within the diversity of rites," as he met on September 27 with the Latin-rite bishops of Ukraine, who were concluding their ad limina visit.
The Holy Father observed that the pastoral work of the Latin-rite bishops in Ukraine "is undertaken in a territory in which faithful of Latin rite and those of Greek-Catholic rite coexist." The Latin-rite Catholics of Ukraine are outnumbered by the faithful of the Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church.
"If communion is consolidated within Catholic communities, it will be easier to conduct a fruitful dialogue between the Catholic Church and the other churches and ecclesial communities," the Pope said. He encouraged ecumenical outreach to the Orthodox majority, but said that unity within the Catholic Church would be a necessary condition for progress in that field.
The Pope acknowledged that "long years of atheist and Communist domination have left evident traces" in Ukraine, creating difficulties that the Church is still struggling to overcome. He asked the bishops to be diligent in confronting those problems, mentioning in particular the need to ensure proper training for future priests, so that they will be prepared for "the precarious situation in which they find themselves, sometimes even forced to face economic difficulties."