Cont’d — see No. 4 (46)
A veteran diplomat recently wrote that the Vatican has adopted a Cardinal Consalvi method of diplomacy which consists of the following:
… to spread a network of Concordats all over the world and to assume the trappings of an accredited government… Above all, it installed in Rome, by slow process, a powerful Byzantine bureaucracy, the much-criticized Roman Curia which would claim to speak for the Pope, would aid in the centralization of all Catholic forces for the glory of God, and exercise some of the forms of human suppression which all condemned in the recent Nazi and Fascist regimes (and Communist) accompanied by condemnations without trial, the anonymity of witnesses, the suppression of news, a rigid censorship of books according to hoary norms, to mention but a few of the defects.
He also noted that the Vatican was ill adapted to suffer the East-West Schism and the Reformation. It can also be stated that because of the defects mentioned the Vatican is even more ill-adapted to suffer the onslaught of atheistic Communism, the modern Black Plague.
All that partially explains why Pope Paul VI, at the consecration of St. Sophia in Rome, Sunday, September 28, 1969, presented a message to Ukrainian Catholics which was replete with inaccuracies, incomplete statements, misrepresentations, and omissions. To say the least, it was “studiously vague,” as a New York Times correspondent has dubbed other remarks of Pope Paul.
I have taken the liberty of rewriting Pope Paul’s speech. In light of the reality of the Ukrainian situation affecting 60 million Ukrainians in the world, it should read as follows: Your Beatitude Joseph Cardinal Slipyj, Patriarch of the Ukrainian Catholic Particular Church in the World, Metropolitan of Kyiv-Halych, and Primate of Ukraine:
Very Reverend Clergy, my brothers in Holy Catholic Faith, and, above all, you, Ukrainians who are scattered across the continents beyond the borders of your native land, Ukraine, as a result of the terror and devastation of the foreign atheistic Russian Communists.
And you, Romans, who are welcoming these sons of the Ukrainian Nation, remember that they in their past history offered a haven of refuge to many nobles of European dynasties as well as other peoples who sought refuge or a kindly welcome. Praise the Lord with us that we may all rejoice on this day and partake in God’s and history’s great plans without thwarting and impeding any longer the work of Patriarch Joseph I and his Ukrainian Catholic Synod of Bishops in administering to their scattered flock in all parts of the world so that they may know and praise God for their Confessor of the Faith, Patriarch Joseph I.
These relics help us recall the Holy Pope Clement, a martyr and third successor of St. Peter, the Bishop of Rome and Patriarch of the West, of the first century’s last decade (92-100). In all probability he was a pupil of St. Paul, who mentions him in the letter to the Philippians (4,3). Pope St. Clement was the author of the memorable letter to the Corinthians, in which he revealed some of the teachings of St. Paul, including the doctrine on the mystical body of Christ. According to historian P. Batiffol, this means that the “God given rights of the hierarchy constitute the essence of Catholicism.” This of course means all the hierarchy, as emphasized by the 2,000 bishops at Vatican Council II, and not just the bureaucrats of the Patriarchate of the West. Thus we deem to put this principle into practice as exhorted by Vatican Council II which has bound us in Christian conscience.
There is great ECUMENICAL SIGNIFICANCE of a church dedicated to St. Sophia, the Holy Wisdom. Since the Ukrainian Grand Prince Volodymyr and his son, Yaroslav the Wise, built St. Sophia in Kyiv, there has been an unbroken line of communication between Ukraine and Rome in spite of the Great Schism between Eastern and Western Churches in the year 1054 which came about from minor political and personal issues for which the See of St. Peter accepts some blame. After the Schism, Popes of Rome sent their delegates to consecrate kings of Ukraine, including the great King Danylo.
These historic vistas which open before our eyes the awe-inspiring fact of Ukraine’s martyrdom for the Universal Church and fidelity to the See of St. Peter, an ECUMENICAL REALITY personified in the person of Patriarch Joseph, in spite of the flagrant continuation of usurpation of the rights of Patriarch Joseph and his Synod of Bishops by Vatican bureaucrats.
In many countries around the world, the Ukrainian Catholic faithful demonstrate each day their steadfast demand that the long-awaited restitution of their usurped rights (the rule of their Patriarch, their Synod of Bishops, and their Canon Law) as an equal Church of the East in union with the See of St. Peter, an equal Church of the West, eschewing the hybrid Latinization and Romanization which deals a death blow to ECUMENISM. It must continue to eschew this Romanization openly and persistently so as not to betray those still outside the fold of the Universal Church, such as the Orthodox or Anglican communions, and others, who may interpret a show of quiet acquiescence on the part of Ukrainians as an all-is-well signal, covering up the continuing usurpation of their rights by the Patriarchate of the West with its numerous bureaucrats at the Vatican. The Holy See shall sweep aside all obstacles and no longer consult the many Sacred Congregations, including Russicum, on the Ukrainian question. The Holy See shall no longer consult the politicians of many different nations, including Russia, Ukraine’s oppressor, on their approval of a Ukrainian Patriarchate. We know that those foreign rights stop where the Ukrainian rights begin. In answer to the call of obligation, justice, and restitution, as well as obedience to the 2,000 bishops of the Vatican Council II, the highest ruling authority of the Universal Church of Christ, we shall immediately return to you, my Ukrainian people, all rights due the Ukrainian Kyiv-Halych Patriarchate and extol before the entire world your Ukrainian Confessor of the Faith, a living martyr, PATRIARCH JOSEPH I SLIPYJ.
This brings to us. We see in this a favor of Divine Providence. We see a sign of religious unity. We see in it a pledge of constant effort by the Apostolic See, so often affirmed by our predecessors, Leo XII, Pius XI, and Pius XII, to honor and to develop in their original wholeness those Eastern Churches which desire, together with the Roman Church, to constitute the one fold of Christ, and which, like the Ukrainian Church, demonstrate brotherly solidarity, filial devotion, loving cooperation in the preservation and propagation of Christianity throughout the world.
We wish to express our gratitude to Jesus Christ, the Supreme Leader and Shepherd of our Church. We cannot fail to mention the much respected PATRIARCH JOSEPH I SLIPYJ, who we are pleased to acknowledge is the sole architect of these awe-inspiring accomplishments completed in 6 short years after his release from 18 years in Russian Communist concentration camps. We also mention the millions of steadfast Ukrainian faithful who have given material and moral support to their PATRIARCH JOSEPH I, St. Sophia, and the Ukrainian Catholic University of Pope St. Clement VIII, which stands alongside it. All that eternally attest to the dual tradition of the people of Ukraine, the great traditions of scholarship in defense of truth and God’s existence, and along with St. Sophia, the eternal symbol of true knowledge and wisdom, will promote studies of the highest quality in the Ukrainian people’s struggle against atheism. The Holy See has pronounced on some occasions our reverence and friendship for Patriarch Joseph I, but let us extol publicly this Ukrainian Confessor of the Faith, Martyr for Christian Unity, and protector of his Ukrainian Catholic Particular Church in the world and his Ukrainian people. He is a worthy successor of the Servant of God Metropolitan Andreas Sheptytsky who also suffered in protecting the Ukrainian Church from the onslaughts of the Polish and Russian Communists and the Russian czars who had imprisoned him. We not only will pray but will act to prove our friendship. Amen
In seeking their rights from the Vatican bureaucrats as stated in the above idealized concept of a Papal speech, the Ukrainians must never cease their struggle for the return of their usurped rights until it has become a reality. The reality of a Ukraine free from its Russian oppressor would soon follow.
NOTE: Comments on the beautiful mosaics and icons in St. Sophia in Rome will appear in this column in a following edition of this Journal.
