Intermittent electricity and air raid sirens cannot and should not stop Ukrainians from celebrating the birth of Jesus, said Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk ofKyiv-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Catholics in Ukraine and Eastern Europe remain optimistic that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, once up and running, could herald a turn for the better in ecumenical relations.
Despite high-level interchurch closeness between pope and patriarch, on the local level "the Catholic Church still faces great challenges merely building bridges with Russian society."
