On March 3, 2016 a special Hierarchal Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the Basilica of Maria Maggiore in Rome, Italy for the intention of peace in Ukraine and to commemorate 70 years since the pseudo-Sobor of Lviv, which marked the beginning of persecution and liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church by the Communist government.
The Hierarchal Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Beatitude Major-Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk and con-celebrated by members of the Permanent Bishops’ Synod of the UGCC and our clergy from Italy and Spain. The celebration began with the celebrants and all faithful processing through the Holy Doors of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.