You're reading: The Record: New Ukrainian head to promote unity with other Christians

The new head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, its youngest Bishop, said he believes the other Bishops elected him to promote unity within the Church and with other Christians.

The 40 year old Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych, visiting Rome to meet Pope Benedict XVI, told CNS he believes he was elected “despite my age.”

Ukrainian Bishops from around the world, who met in a synod in late March to elect a new major Archbishop for their Church, were looking for a leader who could “unite the Church in Ukraine and outside Ukraine,” who could “promote the unity of Christians in Ukraine and establish some sort of dialogue with the new Ukrainian government,” he told CNS on March 30 at the Ukrainian Church office in Rome. Read more.