Storms await Pope's Ukraine visit

Thousands have protested against the Pope's visit

By Ukrainian affairs analyst Stephen Dalziel

Despite his mild manner, Pope John Paul II has never tried to avoid political rows when planning the 93 foreign visits which he has made in over 20 years as the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

But his trip to Ukraine could be the most controversial yet.

For the occasions past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us the forgiveness we beg of him

Pope John Paul II

Within a year of becoming Pontiff, John Paul risked the wrath of the Communist authorities then in power in both his native Poland and the Soviet Union, by visiting his homeland.

On other visits, he has embraced Jews and Muslims, despite protests by hardliners from both faiths.

Earlier this year, despite vociferous objections from Orthodox Christians, the Pope visited Greece.

The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches have been in schism since Rome excommunicated the East in 1054.

In Athens, the Pope made the first apology to the Orthodox world for Catholic sins of the past, saying:

"For the occasions past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us the forgiveness we beg of him."

Moscow's voice

The Orthodox response, though, was lukewarm.

The day after the Pope's statement, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, hightailed it to Moscow to confer with Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Pope's trips abroad have caused controversy

Patriarch Alexy has refused to consider a papal visit to Moscow, and has been highly critical of the visit to Ukraine.

The two Orthodox leaders issued a joint statement, criticising Pope John Paul for not seeking the permission of Ukraine's main Orthodox Church - which is in communion with Moscow - before planning to visit Ukraine.

And they remained decidedly sceptical about the sincerity of the Pope's apology to Orthodoxy for past wrongs.

Ukrainian rifts

The majority of Ukraine's roughly 50 million population are nominally Orthodox, and most of them adhere to the line of the Moscow Patriarchate.

But there is also a significant minority, mainly in the west of the country, of five million Eastern-rite Catholics, who represent the main reason for the papal visit.

Although the form of their worship is akin to Orthodoxy, and they allow married clergy, they recognise the authority of the Pope.

There are also around 150,000 to 300,000 Latin-rite Catholics.

The Orthodox Church was unconvinced by the Pope's apology

One of the bitterest disputes between the Orthodox Church and the Eastern-rite Catholics, concerns church property.

In 1946, the Soviet authorities outlawed the Eastern-rite Catholics, and gave all of their property over to the Orthodox Church.

But after the Catholics were granted legal recognition again, in 1989, during the era of reforms inspired by the then Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, a battle has ensued over the property.

The peculiar set-up, whereby the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is an independent church, but in communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, means that the louder protests over the Pope's visit to Ukraine have come from Moscow.

Geopolitics

This reflects wider political concerns.

The Kremlin is opposed to Ukraine's attempts to become more closely integrated with the West.

Moscow insists that Kiev should look eastwards, to its Slav Russian brothers for its true friends.

For Orthodox Slav Christians, their Catholic Polish brothers represent members of a divided family - with all of the tensions and bitterness such family rows produce

The Slav question adds a deeper element to the papal visit to Ukraine; because, as a Pole, John Paul is a brother Slav.

But, for Orthodox Slav Christians, their Catholic Polish brothers represent members of a divided family - with all of the tensions and bitterness such family rows produce.