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Last Updated: 23 February 2015

CWN - Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk has insisted that the struggle in Ukraine is the result of “direct aggression and invasion,” and not a civil war.

The leader of the Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church spoke to reporters after the Ukrainian bishops completed their ad limina visits to Rome. In his official address to the visiting bishops, Pope Francis had referred to the violence in Ukraine as a “fratricidal conflict,” and called for action to restore peace, without pinning the blame for the conflict on Russia.

But Archbishop Shevchuk said that his country has been the victim of Russian aggression, and “we expect the whole Christian world to take our side.” He added that the Russian Orthodox Church has been a “powerful weapon” for Moscow, and the stand taken by the Moscow patriarchate—which has blamed the Ukrainian Catholic Church for stirring up the conflict—has been an impediment to ecumenical work.

Archbishop Shevchuk said that the Ukrainian Catholic Church wants to be “good neighbors,” and hopes for a restoration of talks with the Russian Orthodox Church. But at the moment there is no dialogue, he said. He also said that all Christians should work for an end to the bloodshed in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Catholic leader said that he and his fellow bishops were encouraged by their meeting with Pope Francis. Although the Pope avoided any hint of political involvement in the conflict, and insisted that his appeal for peace was aimed at all parties, Archbishop Shevchuk reported that the Pope had told the Ukrainian bishops: “I’m shoulder-to-shoulder with you; I’m at your service.”

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Last Updated: 23 February 2015

CWN - Egyptian laborers returning from Libya have said that they were kidnapped and forced into slave labor by Islamic militants, the AsiaNews service reports.

Some of the returning Egyptians said that they had been tortured. Many reported that they were expected to work without adequate food, subjected to humiliation and beatings. Some had the letter “S” carved into their scalps, to mark them as Egyptians, mocking Egyptian President al-Sisi. As the Egyptians returned to their homeland, some of the bodies of the 41 countrymen slain by the Islamic State were also returned.

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Last Updated: 23 February 2015

CWN - St. Gregory of Narek, an Armenian Catholic monk who lived in what is now Turkey and died in 1005, has been named by Pope Francis a Doctor of the Church.

Born in Narek in 950, St. Gregory spent most of his life in a monastery in his native town. Identified early in life as a promising scholar, he taught at the monastery school and produced many letters, prayers, and commentaries. His most renowned work is the Book of Lamentations, a series of 95 prayers meditating on the quest for union with God.

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Last Updated: 23 February 2015

CWN - A Syrian Orthodox priest detained by Kurdish forces in Syria on February 16 has been released.

The detention of Father Gabriel Daoud and at least 11 other Syrian Christians “would appear to be connected with antagonism among the various different military and political Kurdish groups operating in the Syrian province of northeast Jazira,” the Fides news agency reported. All but one of those detained have now been released.

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Last Updated: 23 February 2015

CWN - The grand mufti of Egypt, Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam, has strongly condemned the murder of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya by Islamic State militants, according to regional news reports.

Stating that “the assassins deserve Allah’s curse,” Allam said that “the blood of our Christian children and brothers is the same blood as that of Muslims … which belongs to the Egyptian nation.”

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Last Updated: 23 February 2015

CWN - Pope Francis received Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in audience on February 21 and discussed “poverty and hunger, the exploitation of human beings and the rights of women, and the challenges of promoting world health and the protection of creation,” according to the Holy See Press Office.

The two also discussed human rights, religious freedom, and “the commitment to reaching a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine.”

Following the audience, Merkel met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the new Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.