The Pope is with you in your daily task of servingthe faithful and his prayer accompanies you

With theseheartfelt sentiments, I entrust you, your Churches, and theplans and hopes of the People of God in Ukraine to theMother of God in heaven, and Rosetta Stone outlet I cordially impart myblessing.PILGRIMAGE TOUKRAINEADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHERMeeting withRepresentatives of the All-Ukrainian Councilof Churchesand Religious OrganizationsSunday 24 June 2001Kyiv(National Philharmonic)Illustrious Representatives of theAll-Ukrainian Councilof Churches and ReligiousOrganizations1. I am very grateful to those who have madepossible todays meeting, which gives me the opportunity inthe course of my visit to know more familiarly therepresentatives of the different Churches and ReligiousOrganizations present in Ukraine. I extend cordial andrespectful greetings to all of you. I express my heartfeltappreciation of the Pan-Ukrainian Councils service to thesafeguarding and promotion of spiritual and religiousvalues, which are indispensable for the building of agenuinely free and democratic society. Your excellentOrganization contributes in no small measure to creating theconditions for an ever greater understanding between themembers of the different Churches and ReligiousOrganizations, in a spirit of mutual respect and in theconstant search for a sincere and fruitful dialogue. I mustalso mention your praiseworthy efforts in favour of peacebetween individuals and between peoples.2. Your existenceand your daily endeavours testify in a concrete way to thefact that the religious element is an essential part of thepersonal Rosetta Stone Spanish V3 identity of everyone, no matter the race, people orculture to which they belong. Religion, when practised witha humble and sincere heart, makes a specific andirreplaceable contribution to the promotion of a just andfraternal society.How could a State that wishes to bereally democratic fail to have full respect for thereligious freedom of its citizens? There is no truedemocracy where one of the fundamental freedoms of theperson is trampled on. During the long and sorrowful periodof dictatorships, Ukraine too experienced the devastatingeffects of atheistic oppression which represses man andsubjects him to a regime of slavery. Now you face the urgentchallenge of rebuilding the social and moral fabric of thenation. Through your activities you are called to make anessential contribution to this work of social renewal, byshowing that only in a climate of respect for religiousfreedom is it possible to build a society which is fullyhuman.3. In the first place I greet you, dear Brothersunited by common faith in Christ who died and rose again.The violent Communist persecution did not succeed ineliminating the yearning for Christ and his Gospel from thespirit of the Ukrainian people, because this faith is partof its history and its very life. In fact, in speaking ofreligious freedom in this land of yours, our thoughts goback spontaneously to the glorious beginnings ofChristianity, which for over a thousand years has marked itscultural and social identity. It was with the baptism ofPrince Volodymyr and the people of Rus in the year 988 thatthe presence of the faith and Christian life began on thebanks of the Dnieper. From here the Gospel then reached thedifferent peoples living in the Eastern part of the Europeancontinent. I recalled this fact in my Apostolic LetterEuntes in Mundum, on the occasion of the Millennium of theBaptism of the Rus of Kyiv, and I emphasized how this eventled to a great missionary expansion: "towards the West asfar as the Carpathians, from the southern banks of theDnieper as far as Novgorod and from the northern banks ofthe Volga ... as far as the shores of the Pacific Ocean Rosetta Stone English andbeyond" (No. 4, cf. also the Message Magnum Baptismi Donum,1).At a time when there was still full communion betweenRome and Constantinople, Saint Volodymyr, preceded by theexample of Princess Olga, dedicated himself to safeguardingthe spiritual identity of the people, and at the same timeto fostering the insertion of Rus within the totality ofthe other Churches.