Photo via president.gov.ua

Ukraine President invites Pope Benedict to visit Kiev

President Viktor Yuschenko handed an invitation for Pope Benedict XVI to Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to visit Kiev, reports Interfax-Religion.

"Ukraine highly appraises Pope Benedict's efforts to defend universal human values and global peace," Yuschenko said.

The parties raised the issue of research in the Vatican Secret Archives, including the studying of historical documents related to the history of the Ukrainian state and the famine, or holodomor, in Ukraine. A plan for setting up a working group was discussed.

Cardinal Bertone handed an invitation to Yuschenko to pay an official visit to the Vatican this year.

Pope John Paul II visited Ukraine in 2001.

[05/26/2008]

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