Cardinal Mykola Bychok of Australia arrives in Vatican City ahead of funeral of Pope Francis
Australia’s only cardinal — the world’s youngest — has candidly revealed his thoughts on the formidable task of choosing a new pontiff ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome.
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Australia’s only cardinal Mykola Bychok has revealed he used his last meetings with Pope Francis to plead for help in his native country Ukraine’s war with Russia.
Speaking in Rome ahead of attending the pontiff’s funeral on Saturday, the 45-year-old Ukrainian-born cardinal said he met the 88-year-old Argentinian on several occasions and, despite their language barrier, asked him to help the Ukrainian people.
“On the consistory which took place on the 7th of December when I knelt before his holiness Pope Francis to receive this ring (which Bychok was wearing) as well as a koukoulion, he said to me, ‘Slava Isusu Khrystu’ which means ‘glory be to Jesus Christ’,” Bychok said.
“He was familiar with Ukrainian language because he, as a young boy, was an altar boy and (there was) one Ukrainian priest in Argentina and so for that reason he’s really close to the heart of Ukraine.
“It was a great opportunity to ask him from my side to free those children who are forcibly removed, approximately 20,000 children from occupied areas to Russia.
“Then he said to me, ‘I can’t speak English, you can’t speak Italian but between us the holy spirit is doing great things”.
Bychok issued a stern message about the ongoing conflict and said: “It’s very simple, who is the aggressor, who came to Ukraine?”
“You should remember at the beginning of the war, 99 diplomats, ambassadors left Ukraine because they believed Russia, that after three days it would be completely Russian territory, but we are more than three years (on) because we are not alone,” he said.
“We are with God, we are praying and you know the story about David and Goliath”.
Bychok, who lives in Melbourne, was appointed as the church’s youngest cardinal in December and is the eighth cardinal in the history of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and of Australia.
He said he was shocked when he learned of the pontiff’s death just shortly after departing on an international flight from Melbourne on Monday.
“I just took off from Melbourne and maybe 20 minutes after departure I just turned on the news, CNN and BBC and on the bottom (of the screen) it said, ‘Pope Francis is dead’,” Bychok said.
“Just yesterday (Sunday) he blessed people at Easter, gave a short speech”.
Ahead of the upcoming Conclave Bychok admitted he was a little “nervous” but looking forward to not having his phone and being detached from the outside world while the voting process goes on.
“It’s human that I’m nervous, if you’re not nervous you are not human,” he said.
“On the one hand I’m nervous but on the other hand I’m completely in peace and hope because to be a young cardinal is a huge responsibility but God called me through Pope Francis”.
Earlier in the week Bychok visited the Holy Land and met with His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
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Originally published as Cardinal Mykola Bychok of Australia arrives in Vatican City ahead of funeral of Pope Francis
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