By Anthony Rodrigues
Pope Francis has recently appointed 21 new prelates to become cardinals. They will assemble in a consistory in the Vatican on 8 December this year.
One of these prelates is Bishop Mykola Bychok, the current Bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul in Melbourne, Australia, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church diocese. Not only will he be the only Ukrainian member of the College of Cardinals, the body of all Catholic Cardinals that elect a new Pope, but he will also be the youngest of them all, aged 44.
Bishop Bychok will be the sixth prelate in the history of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to become a Cardinal.
A native of Ternopil, Bychok joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in 1997 and was ordained a Priest of this religious order in 2005. Commonly known as the Redemptorists, this congregation, founded by St Alphonsus Liguori in 1732, is dedicated to missionary work. Bishop Bychok was himself a missionary in Siberia before being consecrated as Bishop in 2020 and has served since then in Australia.
This appointment by Pope Francis has sent ripples of surprise throughout the Catholic world for two reasons in particular.
Firstly, Australia has not had a Cardinal in the College of Cardinals since Cardinal George Pell, an Australian bishop who was controversially imprisoned before being acquitted of sexual abuse allegations. Since Cardinal Pell died in 2023, the country’s next Cardinal will now belong to its Ukrainian Greek Catholic minority community rather than the dominant Latin rite Church, which undoubtedly baffles many Catholics. Another surprise is the Pope bypassing Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major-Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, over a younger Bishop in Australia. The only Ukrainian Greek Catholic Cardinals in history were its Patriarchs; Bishop Bychok will, therefore, become the first Cardinal of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church not to be its leader.
What does this appointment mean for the Vatican’s relations with Ukraine? Is this a sign of goodwill by the Pope towards Ukraine during these times of war?
Since the full-scale invasion started in 2022, Francis has come under heavy criticism from Ukrainians for not being harsh enough on their Russian oppressors, having previously made comments alluding to the West provoking Russia into invading Ukraine and commenting that Ukraine ought to consider the “white flag”. Patriarch Shevchuk himself has stood up for the Ukrainian war effort by responding to the Pope’s comments, stating that no one in Ukraine has “the possibility of surrendering” to the Russians. Patriarch Shevchuk’s frustrations with Papal statements about Ukraine could be why he is yet to be a Cardinal.
Bishop Bychok has been as equally supportive of Ukraine in its fight against Russia; in 2022, he compared Vladimir Putin to King Herod of Judea, who in the New Testament attempted to kill the child Jesus.
One may question whether Pope Francis missed an opportunity to promote Patriarch Shevchuk as Cardinal.
Having a Cardinal from the centre of Ukraine’s struggle for independence (Kyiv) would be a grand gesture towards Ukraine. It could repair damages caused by the Pope’s comments towards Ukraine throughout this war. Furthermore, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church itself fights for its survival as it undergoes oppression in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, harkening back to the days of persecution during Soviet times. The Patriarch’s promotion to the Cardinalate would be comparable to Pope John Paul II’s election in 1979; a Pope from the Communist Bloc was a small victory for Catholics in Poland and other communist countries struggling for independence and freedom from the Soviet Union.
Despite this, the appointment of Bishop Bychok was well-received by the Patriarch, who believes this new Cardinal will “stand up for the protection of our Church and people of Ukraine”. Likewise, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash, thought of Ukraine’s new Cardinal as “incredible news”. We can only wait to see how this new Cardinal will impact relations between the Vatican and Ukraine as this war continues.