On November 25, 2021, a meeting of the bishops of the RCC and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church took place.
As reported, the central topic of the meeting was the discussion of the so-called. “Synodal way” in the Catholic Church, proclaimed by Pope Francis.
Several conclusions can be drawn from this meeting.
There is an integration of all Catholic forces in Ukraine for the sake of promoting the global course of the Catholic leadership. Things were not always smooth between Ukrainian Catholics and Uniates. But it seems they are ready to forget their internal differences for the sake of the tasks that were assigned to them in the Vatican. In fact, closer integration between Uniates and Roman Catholics in Ukraine is, in particular, the strengthening of the position of Catholicism in Ukraine and one of the stages of preparation for the absorption of Ukrainian Orthodox schismatics from the “OCU”. And then – and a wider range of already canonical Orthodox Churches, which are moving in the wake of the Church of Constantinople.
Noteworthy are the words of the head of the UGCC Svyatoslav Shevchuk about the construction of “a single Catholic Church in Ukraine, which is present in two different traditions – Latin and Byzantine.”
These words conceal the thesis that “Orthodoxy” (with a small letter), as a kind of particular “tradition”, may well fit within the framework of the Catholic Church. And the UGCC (union) is, as it were, a demonstration of how “Orthodoxy” can be found within the framework of Catholicism. And, in fact, union is the only format for uniting Catholics and Orthodox. By the way, Shevchuk recently announced that he sees the Brest Union of 1596 as a model for such a union.
As for the so-called. “Synodal path”, then this is an attempt to create a simulacrum of Orthodox conciliarity for the sake of concluding a union with the Orthodox. In other words, an attempt to soften the teaching of the primacy of the Pope (without rejecting this teaching in reality, at the level of official documents of Catholic canon law) with the aim, we repeat, to involve at least a part of the Local Orthodox Churches in the union.
