Youngest cardinal in the world takes possession of the church of Santa Sofía in Rome

Mykola Bychok, the youngest cardinal in the world with only 45 years, took possession of the Church of Santa Sofía in Rome, a temple known as the “Church of the Ukrainians”, headquarters that was granted by Pope Francis when he incorporated him to the Cardinal College on December 7, 2024.

The taking of possession of Bychok, bishop of the Eparquía de los Santos Pedro and Pablo de Melbourne for the Ukrainian Catholics in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, was held on Sunday, June 22 in the church of Santa Sofía in the Eternal City, according to Vatican News.

The Church, of Byzantine Architecture, was built in the 1960s and has now become a place of prayer and a center to help those who suffer from the war in Ukraine, after the invasion of Russia in 2022.

Cardinal Bychok recalled that Santa Sofía in Rome was born under the vision of Cardinal Josyf Slipyj – the major archbishop who suffered prison and torture in the Gulags of the Soviet Union – and stressed that this beautiful temple “had dignity and justice. ”

In that sense, the youngest cardinal in the world stressed that “Santa Sofia is more than a building. It is a living testimony of the resilience and hope of the Ukrainian people.”

The purple young man also stressed that he looks called to “be a bridge between the East and West, past and future, heaven and earth”, something that does not “alone, but with all of you,” he told the many faithful present.

The youngest cardinal in the world who suffers from war: “They are not forgotten”

Remembering the call to overcome the war with the peace of Christ, as Pope Leo XIV has encouraged, Bychok encouraged “being bold in faith and tender in love, to walk with those who suffer already radiate the presence of Christ in every corner of the world.”

To those who suffer from conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa, Cardinal Ukrainian said: “They are not forgotten.”

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Of their sacrifice will sprout new life, new vocations, new holiness,” added the cardinal and finally stressed that he hopes that “Santa Sofia will remain a lighthouse of faith, unity and hope for the Ukrainian church, for the entire Catholic Church and for the world.”

Santa Sofía’s cardinal title in Rome

When the Pope creates a cardinal, he assigns the ownership of a church in Rome and that is why all the cardinals have one in the eternal city. To make this assignment explicit, each cardinal takes possession of their church, as has just happened with Cardinal Bychok this Sunday, June 22.

Vatican News points out that the Cardinal title of Santa Sofía in Via Boccea, linked to the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Basilica of Santa Sofía, was created in 1985 by Pope San Juan Pablo II, who conferred it to the then head of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church, Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky.

This title was conferred in 2001 to his successor, Liubomyr Husar, who died in 2017. Cardinal Bychok, seventh purpured in the history of the Ukrainian Church, has become the third cardinal with the title of Santa Sofía.

The Ukrainian rite in the Catholic Church

The Ukrainian Catholics website in Australia explains that “the Ukrainian Catholic Church (UCC) is an oriental Catholic Church in full communion with the Apostolic Headquarters.”

“With more than 5.5 million faithful, it is the largest of the twenty -three eastern churches of the World Catholic community, the second in number after the Latin Church (Roman Catholic). The UCC is directed by the major archbishop of kyiv and Halych, its beatitude Sviatoslav (Shevchuk).”

Cardinal Mykola Bychok’s clothing is different from that of other cardinals because of their belonging to this rite. The rite to which the majority of Catholics belong in the western world is Latin.

Bychok uses Byzantine tunic and characteristic ornaments of the Greco-Catolic rite, in communion with Rome but heir to the Slavic Byzantine liturgy. His clothing includes Oriental mitra and not the usual red cardinal tunic.