‘A people’s survival is at stake’: What Ukrainians seek in a new pope
In Ukraine, there is hope for a new pontiff in the mold of John Paul II.
In Ukraine, perceptions of Pope Francis’ pontificate seesawed between initial enthusiasm and subsequent disappointment, even resentment.
Ukrainians welcomed Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s election as Bishop of Rome with hope, drawn to his simplicity and attention to the disadvantaged.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, had worked with him during his episcopal ministry in Argentina.
Moreover, in his youth, the future pope became familiar with the Eastern liturgical tradition through his connection with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Salesian Fr. Stepan Chmil, whom he served as an altar boy.
Five years after his election, in 2018, Pope Francis visited the Ukrainian St. Sophia Cathedral in Rome, the resting place of Fr. Chmil, sharing his fond memories of him.
Overshadowed by war
But the backdrop to Francis’ pontificate was the Russo-Ukrainian war, which began in a hybrid form in 2014 and tragically continues.
While the pope offered significant assistance to Ukraine, ranging from humanitarian aid to attempts at diplomatic mediation, many Ukrainians had hoped for a more forceful condemnation of the aggressor, Russia.
Today, while numerous aspects of his pontificate are remembered with gratitude in Ukraine, criticism is also prevalent. Ukrainians recall the Havana Declaration, which Pope Francis signed with the Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill in 2016 and which contained hints of Russian propaganda.
Today, the Ukrainian public sphere is filled with numerous publications about the late pope, reflecting both gratitude and criticism. Reports that several reconnaissance drones were purchased with his secretly transferred funds exist alongside a sense of bitterness, stemming from various ambiguous statements during his pontificate and a perceived lack of clear moral condemnation of Russia’s actions.
This spectrum of opinions is found not only in society in general but also among representatives of the Catholic community and other Christian communities.
For Fr. Mykola Myshovsky, a Roman Catholic priest and director of the Catholic publication Credo, the Francis pontificate presented difficulties for Ukrainians.
Myshovsky suggested that the pope, being from another part of the globe, often did not fully grasp the experiences of people in Ukraine and Europe in general.
He said: “It is clear that popes are pastors for the entire Catholic Church; on the other hand, every person and every nation thinks and cares about their own interests, and right now, the paramount interest of Ukrainians is simply to survive. To survive during and after the terrible war that Russia is waging against us.”
“Therefore, Pope Francis’ attempts at reconciliation, while aimed at solving the problem, were often incomprehensible and painful for us, as Ukraine is the victim.”
Yuri Pidlisny, the deputy head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s family and laity commission, told The Pillar that at times, the pope’s statements appeared to equate Cain and Abel — the aggressor and the victim.
“This can be understood from a certain perspective,” Pidlisny said. “By killing Abel, Cain also causes irreparable spiritual harm to himself. However, God rebukes Cain. So, it is impossible to understand what the Holy See initiated during the Way of the Cross in 2023 and 2024.”
Pidlisny was referring to the controversy over the papal Way of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome that ignited in 2022, when a Ukrainian and a Russian woman held a cross together during the ceremony. In 2023, one of the meditations featured “voices of peace from young people from Ukraine and Russia.”
Pidlisny also highlighted what he perceived as the contradictory nature of Francis’ actions.
“On the other hand,” he said, “he walked to the Russian embassy to the Vatican to demand an end to the aggression and called Patriarch Kirill Putin’s altar boy. These are important and at the same time controversial moments in the pontificate of Francis.”
Mixed perceptions
Denys Kolyada, a young Ukrainian Protestant who developed a friendship and extensive correspondence with Pope Francis, recalled the fluctuating attitudes toward the pontiff in Ukraine.
"I remember how at a certain time the pope led the trust ratings in Ukraine,” Kolyada said, “and at the same time, the misunderstanding of his role as a pontiff and certain statements contributed to a certain extent to discrediting him in the eyes of many.”
“Experiencing a lack of justice in the world, Ukrainians hoped that the pope’s voice would sound tougher toward the aggressor.”
Despite this, Kolyada emphasized Francis’ solidarity.
He said: “Probably, none of the pontiffs mentioned the Ukrainian people as often as Francis. His gestures of solidarity were clear and personal. But in a wave of constant aggression, when pain became the background of existence, these gestures were difficult for the average Ukrainian to understand.”
“Now we can say: this pope, to the best of his understanding, did everything possible for our people. And it takes time to fully appreciate it.”
Drawing on his personal interactions, Kolyada affirmed the pope’s affection for Ukraine.
"He loved Ukraine and its people, he called us ‘the people of martyrs,’” he recalled. “He did not shy away from our challenges and problems, he understood our criticism and the pain that caused it.”
“Once, during one of our conversations, he said to me words that have remained etched in my heart: ‘You can call me a sinner, because that is how it is, or someone who has lost his mind. But you have no right to say that I do not love Ukraine.’”
Orthodox Ukrainian theologian Yuriy Chornomorets offered a sharp critique of Pope Francis’ approach, arguing that the pontiff placed “utopian hopes on the power of dialogue, on the power of love, and absolutized the need to accept the other.”
Chornomorets believes that “in the spirit of Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi, Pope Francis denied the need to stop aggressors in society and in international politics.”
“In fact, the pope called on everyone to become martyrs,” he argued. “But what can be a radical moral choice for a Christian himself becomes immoral if a Christian does not protect his neighbor. Here Dante’s wisdom, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions,’ was true.”
According to Chornomorets, this emphasis on dialogue led the pope to abandon Catholic social doctrine in favor of relativism, where “in his ideal picture of dialogue, rapists and victims of violence became equally moral.”
He offered a stark analogy: “If we take seriously the pope’s words about dialogue as the only possible path for Christians when encountering violence, then the police should not use limited violence to protect citizens from criminals, because everyone should become martyrs in the hope that someday the criminals will become civilized.”
Chornomorets argued that this “relativism” became particularly dangerous in the context of international politics.
“The social doctrine recognizes the right of peoples to self-defense,” he said. “Moreover, the social doctrine teaches that the duty of Christians and all citizens, the duty of all governments, is the struggle against terrorism.”
“Russia today is a state that theoretically justifies terrorism and practices terrorist violence. And it is also a state that supports terrorism throughout the world. According to social teaching, the pope should call for an uncompromising fight against this terrorist empire of evil.”
“The pope was a holy man in the sense of his closeness to God, his love for people, but his theological errors were deeply affecting.”
A new John Paul II
Amid the papal transition in Rome, there is also a lot of talk in Ukraine about what expectations there are for the future pontiff. When thinking about the new Bishop of Rome, the name of Pope John Paul II is most often heard, whom Ukrainians remember as a close friend and moral leader of the world.
This is not surprising: the Polish pope was well aware of the history and situation of Central and Eastern Europe and its problems. His visit to Ukraine in 2001 was a major event that resonated across different religious and cultural lines, and inspired many young people both to deepen their faith and to social activism.
Yuriy Chornomorets told The Pillar that Ukrainians hope the next pope will emulate John Paul II, a leader who “was not afraid to become a leader of freedom and human dignity, was not afraid to defend natural, social and religious rights in the era of ideologically determined totalitarianism.”
He said: “If Pope John Paul II managed to collapse the Soviet camp together with Reagan, today the battle for the ‘free world’ is taking place not only where there are dictatorships, but also in the midst of ideologically divided Western societies.”
“Culture wars radicalize liberals and conservatives. Populism causes social earthquakes. Today it is necessary to return to that vision of Christian social teaching as liberating from ideological extremes that contradict human nature, which was dominant from Pope Leo XIII to Pope Benedict XVI, diminishing utopian hopes for a society of love.”
“The increasing enthusiasm of recent popes for the social power of love and dialogue has turned out to be a path to relativism, to a betrayal of the very foundations of morality and religion. Therefore, it is necessary to defend these foundations of morality and religion anew, to defend humanity in human and in society.”
Yuri Pidlisny shared this hope for a future pontiff who will take a clear moral stance.
“Ukrainians would like to see as the next pope someone who will not try to be neutral for the sake of negotiations, but will stand on the side of truth, justice, and mercy,” he said. “Someone who will combine the spiritual and evangelical zeal of John Paul II with the intellectual charm and strength of Benedict XVI, and who will be willing to revitalize the Church in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, while remaining faithful to the eternal truths left to us by Christ and the apostolic tradition.”
For his part, Denys Kolyada hoped the next pontiff would build on some of Pope Francis’ characteristics while also looking to the future.
He believes that the new pope “must have a heart filled with solidarity — like Francis. His simplicity. His accessibility.”
He said: “Ukrainians want to see a pope who would be closer and more understandable to them. The way John Paul II was. We need a pontiff who corresponds to the spirit of the times — in an era of a deep crisis of trust in authority. And Francis was like that. His simplicity was not PR — it was a challenge. A challenge to many Church and secular institutions.”
Kolyada also expects the new pope to understand the fundamental causes of the Russo-Ukrainian war, identifying Russian imperialism as the root. In his opinion, this is not merely a political issue; imperialism is a direct challenge to the core tenets of the Gospel, which inherently rejects lies, aggression, and violence.
Looking ahead, Kolyada reflected on the kind of leader the world needs.
“Maybe Ukrainians would like to see a politician in the pope,” he said. “But, in my opinion, the world needs a prophet, one who will challenge the strong of this world.”
“And this challenge will not be a challenge of strength — but a testimony of another strength: not the strength of the strong, but the strength that grows out of weakness.”
He added: “Francis taught the world to look for hidden strength on the periphery — and in weakness. And now we need a pope who will show the strong the truth about the courage of those who may seem powerless.”
Highlighting the uncertainty surrounding the future pontiff, Fr. Myshovsky said it was difficult to say what to expect from the new pope since we don’t yet know who he is and what his views are.
He explained that, from the perspective of faithful Catholics, the hope is for a worthy successor to St. Peter who can effectively lead the Church. But Fr. Myshovsky also emphasized the unique and dire circumstances facing Ukraine.
“Unlike many other nations, we are currently experiencing a terrible war in which the survival of an entire people, millions of people, is at stake. Therefore, this is our primary concern,” he said.
He added: “Therefore, we would certainly very much like to see a person who would understand the specifics of at least the recent history of our region, who would understand what Russia is and why it seeks to seize not only Ukraine but also other countries. We would like to feel supported."
Ultimately, Fr. Myshovsky’s prayer for the conclave encapsulates the underlying hopes expressed by many Ukrainians.
“During the conclave, we will pray that the Lord will give us a pope who would be the fruit of God’s Providence, and not merely God’s permissive will,” he commented.
“During the conclave, we will pray that the Lord will give us a pope who would be the fruit of God’s Providence, and not merely God’s permissive will,”
What a beautiful way of putting how we can pray for the conclave.