The Jubilee of the Eastern Catholic Churches was held in Rome

May 16, 2025

From May 12 to 14, 2025, the Jubilee of the Eastern Catholic Churches was held in Rome as part of the Jubilee Year celebrations. The event brought together about 5,000 pilgrims from all over the world — representatives of all 23 Eastern Catholic Churches.

The Jubilee of the Eastern Catholic Churches lasted for three days, during which numerous liturgical services were held in papal basilicas, celebrated in various Eastern rites: Ethiopian, Armenian, Coptic, East Syriac, and West Syriac.

As part of the Jubilee programme, representatives of the Eastern Catholic Churches — among whom a significant number were faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church — had the opportunity to meet with the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, during an audience at the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican. Among the participants were representatives of the Melbourne Eparchy, Bishop Mykola Cardinal Bychok, Eparch of Melbourne, and Father Simon Ckuj, Protosyncellos of the Eparchy.

“How wonderful it is to meet you in the context of the Jubilee of Hope, whose indestructible foundation is the resurrection of Jesus. Welcome to Rome! I am pleased to meet with you and to dedicate to the faithful of the Eastern Rite one of the first meetings of my pontificate. You are valuable,” Pope Leo XIV said during the audience.

The Pope paid special attention to the suffering experienced by the people in many regions where the Eastern Catholic Churches are traditionally present, including Ukraine: “Who, then, is more capable than you of singing words of hope in the midst of the abyss of violence? Who but you, who know the horrors of war so intimately that Pope Francis called your churches ‘martyrs’? It is true that there is so much violence from the Holy Land to Ukraine, from Lebanon to Syria, from the Middle East to the Tigray and the Caucasus! And over all this horror, over the murder of so many young lives, which should cause outrage because people are dying in the name of military conquest, the call stands out, not so much the Pope’s as Christ’s, repeating: ‘Peace be with you!’”.

The celebration of the Jubilee of the Eastern Catholic Churches ended on May 14, in the Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle, with a Divine Liturgy led by Patriarch Youssef Absi of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and the homily was delivered by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the UGCC.

In his homily, His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasised that almost all the faithful of the Eastern Catholic Churches today are experiencing “the painful and tragic experience of war,” fulfilling their Christian vocation “right on the threshold between life and death.” At the same time, he expressed his deep conviction in the victory of good over evil.

“All of us, the faithful of the Eastern Catholic Churches, have come to this papal basilica, to the tomb of the Apostle Peter, as pilgrims of hope. We are experiencing this historic moment of the grace of the Holy Spirit with great excitement and deep spiritual emotion,” said the head of the UGCC.

At the end of the homily, the Head of the UGCC called on everyone, as bearers of the “Spirit of the risen Jesus,” together with the successor of the Apostle Peter, to proclaim “from this highest throne” to all the peoples of the world: “Peace be with you!”