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26.06.01, 00:00
Pope Celebrates Mass in Lviv, Ukraine
The Associated Press
Jun 26 2001 6:17AM
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) - Pope John Paul II led a crowded outdoor Mass in western
Ukraine on Tuesday, picking a region long contested by Poles and Ukrainians,
Catholics and Orthodox, Communists and nationalists as the place to make a plea
for a spirit of forgiveness in Eastern Europe.
``Let us feel ourselves gently nudged to recognize the infidelities to the
Gospel of not a few Christians of both Polish and Ukrainian origin living in
these parts. It is time to leave behind the sorrowful past,'''' the pope said in
his homily, most of which was delivered in Polish.
``May pardon, given and received, spread like a healing balm in every heart.
May the purification of historical memories lead everyone to work for the
triumph of what unites over what divides, in order to build a future of mutual
respect, fraternal cooperation and true solidarity.''''
In addition to the religious and ethnic fissures that run through Eastern
Europe, the pope appeared to be addressing the issue of people affiliated with
the atheist, Communist regime of Soviet-era Ukraine.
Unlike Poland and other East European countries, neither Ukraine, Russia nor
any other former Soviet republic outside the Baltics has prosecuted former high-
ranking Communist officials for alleged crimes against the nation. Nor have
they exposed former KGB informers, including in the churches.
An estimated 600,000 flag-waving, chanting people turned out to hear the pope
deliver his message at Lviv''s Hippodrome, his first Mass in western Ukraine.
The ecstatic welcome as the pope crisscrossed the sun-dappled field in his
popemobile was in stark contrast to the cool reception and thin crowds that
greeted him in the capital Kiev, where Orthodox believers predominate. His own
mood seemed markedly brighter when he reached Lviv late Monday, met at each
stop along his way from the airport by tens of thousands of people.
Lviv is Ukraine''s stronghold of Catholicism, and many inhabitants who suffered
for their faith in Soviet times today are enjoying a religious renaissance -
exemplified by the first papal visit to Ukraine, which has been independent for
10 years.
``It''s such a great event, he makes us so happy, this is something that happens
once in a century, no, once in a thousand years!,'''' said Julia Hlovatska, 19,
who had arrived at the Hippodrome Mass site at 2 a.m. after riding a train from
the western town of Khmelnytskyi.
``He comes to support the faith of the Ukrainian people,'''' she said.
The papal trip pays tribute to the historical suffering of Ukraine''s Catholics,
the majority of them so-called Greek Catholics who practice Orthodox ritual but
bear allegiance to the pope. Greek Catholic believers faced persecution under
both Russian imperial and Soviet rule.
John Paul was to beatify two Latin Rite Catholic clergymen on Tuesday and more
than two dozen Greek Catholics on Wednesday.
The five-day papal visit, including the stay in westward-looking Lviv,
reflected the Ukrainian leadership''s desire to be embraced by the west.
President Leonid Kuchma invited John Paul to Ukraine in spite of the vehement
opposition of the majority Orthodox Church.
Security at the Hippodrome was tight. The primate of Poland, Cardinal Josef
Glemp, and the president of the Italian Bishops'' Conference, Cardinal Camillo
Ruini, had to remove their pectoral crosses to pass through the metal
detectors.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims from the pope''s native Poland, Ukraine''s western
neighbor, poured into Lviv for the pope''s visit. About two-thirds of the
banners held aloft at Tuesday''s Mass were red-and-white Polish flags, and the
relics of a Polish saint, John of Dukla, were brought from Poland and placed on
the papal altar.
``It''s so close to Poland that we just could not miss it,'''' said Krzysztof
Wojtalewicz, a 39-year-old lawyer from Warsaw.
Pilgrims have also come from further afield. A private meeting with the pope
was arranged for Zhao Bin, a 25-year-old woman from Jinan Province in China who
suffered severe burns over her body when her boyfriend doused her with gasoline
and set her on fire. The trip was arranged by Hope For Tomorrow, the same
Buffalo, N.Y.-based foundation that provided her free plastic surgery.
``It''s an honor to be blessed by the pope,'''' she said through an interpreter.
John Paul wants to heal the schism that has divided Christianity between the
Catholic and Orthodox churches since 1054, and aides say he still nurtures the
hope of visiting Russia someday.
But Russian church leaders point to bitter disputes over church property
between Orthodox and Greek Catholics, which have sometimes spilled over into
physical confrontations.
Viktor Malukhin, a spokesman for Russia''s Orthodox Patriarchate in Moscow, said
Monday that the church''s refusal to meet with the pope was justified.
``Only one circumstance could have caused this position to change.... If the
pope had condemned the violence toward Orthodox believers, if he had repented
for the blood that has been spilled over the past 10 years in western
Ukraine,'''' Malukhin said.
