Pope sending Parolin to Ukraine on journey of peace

By Alessandro De Carolis

Cardinal Pietro Parolin will represent Pope Francis at celebrations marking the conclusion on July 21 of a pilgrimage by Ukrainian Latin Rite Catholics to the Marian shrine of Berdychiv in northern Ukraine.

The confirmation of Cardinal Parolin’s mission, announced earlier this year, was made in an official letter in Latin designating the Vatican Secretary of State as papal legate for the event. The Holy Father’s letter also designated two priests – Father Ruslan Mykhalkiv, rector of the seminary of the Kiev-Zhytomyr diocese, and Father Andriy Lehovich, secretary to the Metropolitan Archbishop of Lviv of the Latins – to accompany Cardinal Parolin on his mission.

Centuries of pilgrimages and graces

Although Berdychiv was officially designated a national shrine only in 2011, Pope Francis recalls in his letter the centuries-old tradition of pilgrimages to the Marian shrine. In 1630, voivode (governor) of kyiv, Yanush Tyshkevych, founded a monastery there in gratitude for the liberation of the Tatars and donated an icon of the Mother of God “of the Snows”, painted in the 16th century. The devotion soon spread to the rest of the country, with pilgrims eager to come and kneel before the miraculous image of Our Lady.

Prayer for the end of wars

Today more than ever, in this “sad and gloomy time of war violence,” Ukraine invokes the Virgin for a special grace, the grace of peace.

“You will encourage all the participants in this event – Pope Francis wrote to Cardinal Parolin – to constantly implore the Queen of Peace to put an end to the war in Ukraine and in all parts of the world, offering herself as an example of blessing among women to imitate, because she is pleasing to God who humbles the proud and elevates the humble.”

The letter ends with the Pope’s invitation to bring his blessing, but also “his benevolence and closeness in this extremely difficult moment for the dear Ukrainian people.”