SW News: The Church in both Poland and neighboring Ukraine scripted a new chapter in reconciliation and healing on Friday, July 7, the 80th anniversary of the Volhynia massacre. A Forgiveness and Reconciliation Service was conducted in the Warsaw Cathedral as part of the commemoration of the ethnic cleansing of 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian nationalists in 1943 when World War II was raging.

Leaders of the Catholic Church in Poland, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Latin Church in Ukraine took part in the service. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan, who is also the chairman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, said that forgiveness for the atrocities committed in Volhynia is difficult. However, there is a “great desire to reconcile both nations” he said. The Polish prelate said to achieve effective and lasting reconciliation, “the truth about the genocide should find a place in the educational programs of both Poland and Ukraine”.

The archbishop also appealed to the leaders of both nations to provide a dignified burial to all victims of genocide. The prelate said that bodies have to be exhumed and reinterred with the proper religious rites according to the victims’ confession. During the ceremony, Major Archbishop Swiatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv and Halych, who is also the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said, "Reconciliation between our nations is a process of healing wounds that both Poles and Ukrainians carry in their soul and conscience to this day. It's not easy to heal pain and injuries."

He noted with gratitude the extraordinary gesture of Poles last year when they “opened their hearts, their homes to refugees from Ukraine”. The top prelate added that previous animosities have vanished and now is the time to befriend each other.

“The Ukrainian nation feels that Poles are their best friends. We know that Poles always support Ukraine, that they are like compatriots and the closest comrades you can count on, they are our friends and our brothers. Now we can build new relationships that are being born right before our eyes,” the Major Archbishop said.

Both prelates signed the Message marking the 80th anniversary of the massacre. "We believe that in these difficult days, we are writing important pages in the book of reconciliation so that we can arrange our common future as free with free and equal with equals" reads the message they signed.