UKRAINE: POPE JOHN PAUL II HAS STARTED A DIFFICULT TRIP TO UKRAINE WITH AN APOLOGY
Record ID:
584775
UKRAINE: POPE JOHN PAUL II HAS STARTED A DIFFICULT TRIP TO UKRAINE WITH AN APOLOGY
- Title: UKRAINE: POPE JOHN PAUL II HAS STARTED A DIFFICULT TRIP TO UKRAINE WITH AN APOLOGY
- Date: 23rd June 2001
- Summary: (W5) KIEV, UKRAINE (JUNE 23, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. LV AIRPLANE ON TARMAC, CHILDREN AND OFFICIALS WALKING TO GREET POPE 0.06 2. SV EXTERIOR COCKPIT OF AIRPLANE 0.09 3. SV/SLV/LV POPE JOHN PAUL II STANDS BY DOORWAY OF AIRPLANE, STUMBLES SLIGHTLY; OFFICIALS WAITING; POPE DISEMBARKS AIRPLANE; POPE BEING GREETED BY OFFICIALS INCLUDING PRESIDENT LEONID KUCHMA ; CHILDREN DRESSES IN TRADITIONAL COSTUMES (8 SHOTS) 1.23 4. LV/SLV/SV POPE MAKES HIS WAY TO PODIUM; POPE STANDING ON PODIUM; POPE STANDING AND VIEWING WELCOMING CEREMONY; POPE BEING SEATED; CHILDREN WATCHING CEREMONY (13 SHOTS) 3.07 5. SV (Ukrainian) POPE JOHN PAUL II ADDRESSING CROWD ABOUT HEALING THE WOUNDS BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND ORTHODOX, SAYING (Loose translation) I have not come with the intention of proselytising [to convert a person from one belief to another] but to bear witness to Christ together with all Christians with every Church. 3.45 6. SLV CROWD INCLUDING CHILDREN, CLAPPING 3.53 7. SLV/LV POPE SEATED ON PODIUM AND BEING GREETED BY CLERGY (2 SHOTS) 4.06 8. SLV POPE AND KUCHMA SEARTED ON PODIUM WITH CHILDREN 4.12 9. SV POPE GETTING INTO VEHICLE 4.24 10. SLV ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH AND MEMBERS OF GREEK CATHOLIC COMMUNITY/WOMAN AT CONFESSION (2 SHOTS) 4.38 11. CU POSTER FEATURING POPE 4.43 12. LV/SV CAR ARRIVING, CROWD (2 SHOTS) 5.01 13. SLV/SV/LV POPE EXITS CAR, SHELTERED FROM THE RAIN BY UMBRELLAS; MORE OF CROWD; POPE ENTERS POPEMOBILE; CROWD WAVING YELLOW SCARVES AND CHEERING; POPE WAVES TO THE CROWD, TRANSPORTED IN POPEMOBILE (8 SHOTS) 6.10 14. MCU (Ukrainian) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN, WATCHING THE POPE'S JOURNEY THROUGH THE STREET, SAYING "To see the Pope at such close quarters is fantastic" 6.21 15. LV OF POPEMOBILE DRIVING THROUGH CITY STREETS AS POPE HEADS TOWARDS HIS OFFICIAL RESIDENCE IN KIEV 6.35 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 8th July 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KIEV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Reuters ID: LVAF27UFDEMWD6FRWNR13SB2PKGY
- Story Text: Pope John Paul II has started a difficult trip to
Ukraine with an apology for past Catholic wrongs and an
assurance to Orthodox believers hostile to the visit that he
had not come to win converts.
As the Pontiff's plane touched down at Kiev's Boryspil
airport on Saturday (June 23) hundreds of Orthodox priests,
nuns and worshippers prayed to try to keep the head of the
Roman Catholic Church away from their sacred sites.
Too frail now to kneel, the 81-year old Pontiff kissed a
bowl of Ukrainian soil held by two school children before
shaking the hand of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and
receiving full military honours and a gun salute.
The Polish-born Pope is expected to use the visit, his
94th outside Italy, to focus on Christian unity and to address
disputes between Ukraine's six million Catholics and many
Orthodox believers who accuse him of stealing converts and
land.
On his arrival the Pope addressed the crowd of Catholic
clergy and politicians and assured them that the purpose of
his trip was not to win converts.
"I have not come with the intention of proselytising [to
convert a person from one belief to another] but to bear
witness to Christ together with all Christians with every
Church," said the Pope in fluent Ukrainian.
From a population of 49 million, about 10 million people
living in Ukraine are observant Orthodox and about six million
are Catholic.
Those aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church regard the
local Catholic church as the Trojan Horse of an army bent on
poaching souls in a post-Communist world of religious freedom.
Repeating the gesture he made last month in Greece, the
Pope said the Catholic and Orthodox should seek forgiveness
for offences against each other since the 1054 Schism that
split the eastern Orthodox and western Catholic churches.
The Pope's visit is expected to try to heal some of the
long-standing religious wounds in Ukraine.
In 1946, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin suppressed Ukraine's
eastern rite Catholic Church, the Greek Catholic Church, and
gave its places of worship to the local Orthodox Church, which
was run from Moscow and was pro-government.
After the ban was lifted in 1991, Catholics took back
their churches, leading to sometimes violent disputes that
occasionally pitted elderly believers against each other.
The Pope on Saturday paid tribute to Ukrainians who
suffered during nearly five decades of religious persecution
under Communism, when the faithful were forced to worship
underground.
After the airport welcoming ceremony, the Pope headed
for the centre of Kiev, where he stopped at the St.Nicolas
Church to greet members of the Greek-Catholic community.
He then boarded the Popemobile for a drive through the
streets of central Kiev. Small groups of people lined the
streets as the Pope convoy made its way to his official
residence in Kiev.
One woman standing nearby was delighted to actually see
the Pope in person.
"To see the Pope at such close quarters is fantastic," she
said.
Authorities estimate that some two million people will
flock to masses at Kiev's Chaika airfield on Sunday (June 24)
and Monday (June 25).
The Pope is also expected to pay his respects to the
estimated 100,000 Jews massacred by Nazi troops at the Babi
Yar ravine near Kiev in World War Two.
The Pope then travels over 500 km (300 miles) to Lviv for
two days of services and meetings with Catholic leaders.
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