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Ukraine
Papal visit planned
Historic trip to scene of Catholic-Orthodox strife
The Vatican confirmed on November 6 that Pope John Paul will make a historic visit to Ukraine in June 2001.
The announcement, issued by papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, did not indicate precise dates for the papal trip, but Vatican insiders suggest that it could be a three-day visit, with stops in Kiev and Lviv. Rumors of a papal trip to Ukraine had been gaining increasing prominence, and German newspapers had broken the story on November 4.
The Pope’s trip could mark a significant step forward in relations between Catholics and Orthodox in a country where relations between those Christian denominations have been tense for many years. The persistent disputes between Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian-rite Catholics have been the focus of complaints by the Russian Orthodox Church—the world’s largest Eastern Christian body.
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