600th anniversary of Latin rite Catholic archdiocese in Ukraine
(June 04, 2012) The Catholic Church in Ukraine on Sunday concluded the festivities
marking 600 years of the establishment of the Latin rite Catholic Church in the country.
Pope Benedict XVI had sent Cardinal Angelo Comastri, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica
and vicar general for Vatican City, as his special envoy to the closing celebration
of the May 26 – June 3 Ukrainian National Eucharistic Congress, marking the 600th
anniversary of the establishment of the Archdiocese of Lviv. According to Vatican
statistics, 4.9 million of the nation’s 46.1 million people are Catholic. The nation
has seven Roman Catholic dioceses, ten Ukrainian Greek Catholic dioceses, a Ruthenian
Catholic diocese, and an Armenian Catholic diocese.