SW News: Ukrainian Bishop Pavlo Honcharuk of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia has stressed the need for justice in his country and the importance of faith in God as the war in the eastern European nation entered the seventh month.

In an interview with Vatican News, Bishop Honcharuk said that war provides an opportunity for people to deepen their relationship with God. The 44-year-old Bishop of the Latin-rite Diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia has witnessed first-hand the horrors inflicted on people in the region.

The prelate had served as a military chaplain before the war and is among the youngest Catholic bishops in the world. He was appointed Bishop of Kharkiv-Zaporizhia in January 2020, two years before his country came under attack by the Russian army.

Kharkiv is the second-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of 1.7 million before the war. Parts of the eastern part of the city have been under Russian control since the Russian army entered Ukraine in February this year.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine on Thursday pledging $2.2 billion in new security assistance to the country.

What is needed now is “justice,” which should be at the forefront in terms of the importance of the “many resolutions that have been reached during the last years.” The bishop said the basic rights of people should be respected and every “person has the right to live on their territory. Nobody has a right to take it away.”

Earlier this year, for the feast of the Annunciation on 25 March, Pope Francis consecrated all humanity —especially Russia and Ukraine—to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

He said the act expressed complete trust in the Virgin Mary in the midst of the “cruel and senseless war” in Ukraine.

In response, the Bishop said that the consecration of the people to Our Lady is an invitation for God to be with them in this moment of great difficulty: “God, please be with us,” he prayed.

Having a “real relationship” with God can help provide the inner “peace, the hope, and inner strength” the people of Ukraine need to overcome the great darkness of conflict, Bishop Honcharuk concluded.

 




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