Ukrainian cardinal calls for Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation

Published: 2007-05-11

OXFORD, England (CNS) -- A Ukrainian cardinal called for reconciliation between Poles and Ukrainians on the anniversary of a massive postwar deportation. "History doesn't change, but we can work on our future," said Cardinal Lubomyr Husar of Kiev-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, an Eastern rite. "What's most important is that this sad heritage, and the distaste and dislike accompanying it, aren't passed on from generation to generation. The chain of evil should be broken." He told Poland's Catholic information agency, KAI, that Catholic leaders had helped rebuild unity between Poles and Ukrainians since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, but cautioned that people and groups in both countries still opposed reconciliation. The cardinal made his remarks for the 60th anniversary of Action Vistula, a period of several months in 1947 in which more than 140,000 ethnic Ukrainians were expelled from their homes by Soviet leaders to seal a new Polish-Soviet border.

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