On Wednesday, January 25, before the general audience held in the hall of Paul VI, in the nearby meeting room, Pope Francis received a delegation of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which these days is making a working visit to the Apostolic Capital. This is reported by the publication lb.ua.

“The Pope handed over in writing a pre-prepared speech, sharing a few impromptu words, apologizing that this meeting would be short because he had to go to a general audience,” the message says.

The publication also noted that the delegation of Ukrainian churches included the head of the OCU, Epifaniy, the head of the Association of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine, Jacob Bleich, and others.

“The Primate of the UOC-MP Metropolitan Onufriy was not at the meeting. Heads of the Department of Foreign Relations of the UOC-MP, Metropolitan of Chernivtsi and Bukovina Meletiy (Yegorenko) – also. The UOC-MP was represented by Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich. Answering the question of LB about why Archpriest Danilevich, and not Onufriy himself or at least Meletiy himself, entered the delegation, Metropolitan Kliment, the main speaker of the UOC-MP, answered that “the Primate blessed so,” the publication states.