How to spiritually revive Ukraine and how the West can help in this dominated the talks Liubomyr Cardinal Huzar, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, held with EU high officials, as well as of his speech at the New Europe-New Ukraine conference.
“I see that Western Europe, despite all its specific difficulties, has preserved, thank God, so much spiritual power that it could offer us very serious support in a spiritual renaissance,” Cardinal Huzar believes. He met such quite influential officials as Hugh Mingarelli, director of the EU External Relations Directorate- General, and Michael Weiniger, diplomatic advisor to the European Commission president. The parties did not discuss whether Kyiv could receive the status of an associate or even a full member in the European club. Spiritual values in Ukraine are what primarily worries the leader of Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who stresses that he represents neither the state nor any commercial interests, but speaks exclusively on behalf of his church. The cardinal stated that it is not so important whether Ukraine joins the EU in three, five, or ten years; what really matters is what spiritual benefit Ukraine will reap.
“We expect Europe to understand our problems. For it is very easy to judge somebody if you do not understand him,” the cardinal told the conference organized by the Commission of Episcopal Conferences of the European Community and the EU Ukrainian Mission. The primate of Ukrainian Greek Catholics was attentively listened to because the West respects and venerates the cardinal.
Addressing the conference, Cardinal Huzar spoke about the Bolshevik period in Ukraine’s history: the manmade famine of the early thirties, which took an estimated toll of seven to fourteen million people, and rejection of religion and Christian values in general under Soviet rule. Liubomyr Cardinal Huzar is optimistic about Ukraine: he thinks this country is the key to understanding Eastern Europe. “This does not mean we must strive for some kind of domination. The point is not in a governmental, political, economic, or military strength. I think Russia will always be stronger from this perspective. The point is in the spiritual element, that is, in the extent to which our membership will give us inner satisfaction and peace. If we show certainty, this will radiate across much of Europe,” the cardinal told journalists.
