February 18 | 
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Election of new Ukranian archbishop has great implications
The election of a new archbishop for a church with 6.5 million Catholics could hold the key to determining whether Pope Benedict XVI and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow are likely to meet in the near future.
Vatican officials are watching the Ukrainian Catholic Church’s leadership with keen interest, but without the degree of anxiety for its ecumenical implications that would have been present even five years ago.
Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar of Kiev-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Church, last week about two weeks before his 78th birthday. The cardinal, who as major archbishop of the Eastern Catholic Church could have served for life, is almost blind and asked to retire.
The 45 Ukrainian Catholic bishops from Ukraine and other countries of Europe, North and South America and Australia must meet within two months to elect a successor; Pope Benedict must assent to the election before the new major archbishop can be installed.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church is the largest of the Eastern churches in full communion with Rome, and it is pivotal in ecumenical relations.
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