US Catholics’ support for Eastern Church ‘vital,’ says major archbishop
PHILADELPHIA (CNS) — In 2009, Ukrainian Father Sviatoslav Shevchuk, a priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, was named a bishop and sent to Buenos Aires, Argentina, as an auxiliary bishop and administrator of the Eparchy of Santa Maria.
At that time he was just 38, the youngest Catholic bishop in the world.
Just two years later, despite his youth, his brother Ukrainian bishops meeting for a five-day synod in Lviv elected him major archbishop of Kyiv-Halych, the head of the entire Ukrainian Catholic Church. The election was ratified by Pope Benedict XVI.
During his brief administration in Buenos Aires, his mentor was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, then the archbishop of Buenos Aires, now Pope Francis. The two became friends.
“I think Pope Francis has deep religious spirituality,” Major Archbishop Shevchuk observed during a Nov. 13-15 visit to Philadelphia. “His special gift is to discern and appreciate each gift from the Holy Spirit, and he was an outstanding father and adviser to me, he introduced me to the council of bishops in Argentina and helped me with my orientation.”
More recently, he served on the preparatory commission for the October 2014 extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family and this October’s world Synod of Bishops on the family. He recalls the first time meeting the now-Pope Francis while he was there. He started to talk to the pontiff in Italian.