Cardinal asks Melanesian bishops to pray for Ukraine

Cardinal Bychok, appointed to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis in 2024, was asked to lead last week’s annual retreat for the bishops of the two nations, which form one episcopal conference.

Over the five days, the cardinal delivered a series of reflections focusing on the vocation and ministry of a bishop, a bishop’s personal relationship with God, his responsibility for the people of God entrusted to his care and the challenges of pastoral ministry in today’s world.

Cardinal Bychok’s final session was on the theme of hope. Drawing on his most recent visit to Ukraine, he spoke about the families of servicemen who are prisoners of war or are considered missing.

“To give you some idea of the scale of this tragedy, today more than 114,000 people in Ukraine are officially listed as missing,” he said.

“Behind this number there are not simply statistics, but thousands of fathers, mothers, wives and children who continue to live in the hope that their loved ones will return.”

During a visit to Ukraine this year, Cardinal Bychok met with the families of servicemen who are missing. At the retreat, he recalled one such meeting in the Odesa region. There, he was greeted by women, each holding a small bell bearing the name of her missing husband, son or father.

“I do not think I can fully convey to you what I felt at that moment as I walked through that corridor of terrible, incomparable pain, and yet, at the same time, of hope for their return. You know, it is easy to preach about hope when everything is going well. But how do we speak about hope to those who live surrounded by hopelessness?” Cardinal Bychok asked.

The Cardinal brought one of these bells with him to Papua New Guinea. It bears the name of Oleksii Maksymenko, a Ukrainian serviceman from the Odesa region who has been missing since December 2023.

At the conclusion of the retreat, Cardinal Bychok entrusted Oleksii Maksymenko’s bell to the bishops and asked them to pray for Ukraine: “I would like to leave this bell here in Papua New Guinea and ask you to pray for peace in Ukraine, for the thousands of people who today continue to live in hope and wait for a miracle.

“May the sound of this bell today become a symbol of hope for all those who need it – not only for Ukrainians, but also for all your faithful who face difficult circumstances of many different kinds in their daily lives. May the Lord hold each of them in his care and let us pray that hope does not disappoint us.”

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Cardinal Mykola to the bishops in Papua New Guinea (CatholicUkes.au)