In 1412, the see was transferred from Halych to Lviv.
“I am very happy to have come to you, as a special envoy of His Holiness Benedict XVI, on the occasion of this important anniversary,” Cardinal Tomko preached on September 8.
“We want to laud God for all the blessings that the archdiocese has received in the course of 600 years. Its future will rely on the special protection of the heavenly Mother.”
In June, Pope Benedict had sent Cardinal Angelo Comastri, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and vicar general for Vatican City, as his legate for the closing celebration of the Ukrainian National Eucharistic Congress.
According to Vatican statistics, 4.9 million of the nation’s 46.1 million people are Catholic.
The nation has seven Roman Catholic dioceses, ten Ukrainian Greek Catholic eparchies (dioceses), a Ruthenian Catholic eparchy, and an Armenian Catholic eparchy.