“We feel the spiritual closeness of this man. It is no coincidence that there is a myth among Ukrainians about the Ukrainian origins of Pope John Paul II. In particular, it is said that his mother, Emilia Kaczorowska, who came from Volhynia, was Ukrainian, and, like King John III Sobieski, is referred to as “ours.” But it was not only his origins but also the Pope’s attitude to his beloved Ukraine, to which he had dreamed all his life of coming and arriving in 2001,” said Professor Bohdan Hud of Ivan Franko University in Lviv on TV Republika.
In “Polityczna Kawa,” Tomasz Sakiewicz asked his guest what makes Ukrainian citizens consider St John Paul II “their own.”
“Probably because we feel the spiritual closeness of this man. It is no coincidence that there is a myth among Ukrainians about the Ukrainian origins of Pope John Paul II. In particular, it is said that his mother, Emilia Kaczorowska, who came from Volhynia, was Ukrainian, and, like King John III Sobieski, is referred to as “ours.” But it was not only his origins but also the Pope’s attitude to his beloved Ukraine, to which he had dreamed all his life of coming and arriving in 2001,”
Professor Bohdan Hud said.
“He realised then the goal of his life to come to Ukraine, to see the faithful of the Eastern Catholic Church, and also the Orthodox of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to see that this is not the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church, but these are territories that, at least since the beginning of the 17th century, have been subject to the Vatican, have accepted union with Rome. The attitude of the Ukrainian population, not only in Kyiv, and Lviv, convinced the Pope that these were territories where they respected him, liked him and loved him, and the crowds he saw, which were gathered in Kyiv and Lviv, were a huge argument in favour of this claim that the Pope was joyfully welcomed in the Ukrainian territories,”
the guest of TV Republika added.
Prof. Hud stressed that in the history of independent Ukraine, this was the first and only Pope to arrive.
“Now there is talk about the arrival of Pope Francis, unfortunately, they are not enthusiastic enough about this arrival,”
he added.
Tomasz Sakiewicz pointed out that he had sent his Ukrainian friends living in Poland a message about the Papal March being organised in Warsaw next Sunday and in response, he received clear declarations that they would turn up at the event.
“This confirms that this is not an intrinsically Polish issue, because the person of John Paul II is the person who unites our two nations, and the myth of Emilia Kaczorowska’s Ukrainian origins is confirmation that Ukrainians would like to see John Paul II as the only Pope. All the more so because he spoke Ukrainian beautifully and addressed the faithful in Ukraine in this very language,”
Prof. Hud stressed.