The meeting of the Synod was attended by 45 bishops from Ukraine and settlements.

  At this first session of the Synod of Bishops, several important matters were raised, including the synodal activity in quarantine and pastoral planning in the Church for the near and long term.

  Charity, love and fraternity are the way forward. This was said by the Pope in conversation with journalists on the flight from Baghdad back to Rome, after the historic four-day trip to Iraq. Francis recounted his impressions of his meeting with Al Sistani, his emotion before the destroyed churches in Mosul and told of his promise to Patriarch Bechara Rai to undertake a trip to Lebanon.

  Out of the world’s 5,600 Catholic bishops, 10 of the youngest are Ukrainian. This weekend marks a decade since the selection of a 40-year-old to lead the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. Svyatoslav Shevchuk was elected to lead the 5.5 million Ukrainian Catholics in March 2011. The choice of such a young individual in an organization whose leaders have traditionally been associated with long grey beards raised eyebrows. Ten years on, however, the church is among the most trusted institutions in the land, with a 62% vote of confidence among Ukrainians.

  On the occasion of the decade of his rule, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, expressed his new vision of the UGCC during the program "Moving Forward Together."