Kharkiv: In a powerful testimony from a war-scarred Ukraine, Bishop Pavlo Honcharuk of the Latin Diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia has shared a sobering yet deeply hopeful account of life at the frontlines of destruction. Speaking to Vatican Media after his meeting with Pope Leo XIV during the General Audience on June 18, the bishop described his homeland as "a Church under fire a Church that continues to love, to serve, and to stand firm in the face of death."
The bishop, who briefly greeted the Holy Father, carried back with him not just the Pope’s words but his visible calm and blessing. “I asked him to bless me, our priests, our sisters, our diocese, and all the people of Ukraine,” Bishop Honcharuk recalled. “He simply said, ‘I bless you.’ That brief moment left a deep peace in my heart.”
But that peace starkly contrasts with the harrowing reality of daily life in Kharkiv. Once home to 2.7 million residents, the city now shelters only around half a million joined by a similar number of displaced persons from surrounding areas. “We are constantly under attack,” the bishop said. “Ballistic missiles, drones packed with explosives they strike homes, playgrounds, schools, factories. There is no safe place.”
He described how recent guided bombs have left craters up to 200 meters deep, flattening everything in their path. “Sometimes people don’t even have time to reach shelters. There are no buildings left, no trace of the people who were inside. It is total annihilation.”
Despite this, Bishop Honcharuk emphasized that the Church has not abandoned its flock. “Our priests remain. They celebrate Mass, lead prayers, visit the sick, hear confessions, and share in the suffering of the people. Even where entire parishes have been destroyed, we do not walk away.” He cited the example of Pokrovsk, a town nearly erased by shelling. “The parish is gone, the chapel is destroyed, and the priest had to leave due to constant drone attacks but still, our presence continues.”
The bishop painted a deeply human portrait of the soldiers defending Ukraine. “They carry not just physical fatigue, but spiritual wounds,” he explained. “They never chose to take up arms. It’s like grabbing a pot of boiling water to save someone they stop the pain from reaching others, but they themselves are burned.”
He reflected on countless conversations with soldiers who, despite their exhaustion, say quietly, “If not me, then who?” Bishop Honcharuk added, “They don’t even say who to pray for anymore some comrades are alive, some are gone. The grief is too heavy. But they ask for prayers, and we offer them.”
Amid relentless attacks, humanitarian aid has dwindled. “Supplies are low, and even storing aid is dangerous warehouses are targeted by missiles,” the bishop explained. “Yet the Church is there Caritas is active, and small parish groups continue their silent, powerful work. The Church lives, because the people the baptized keep it alive. We are in the hospitals, in the trenches, in the ruins.”
The bishop also emphasized his pastoral responsibility to his priests, acknowledging the emotional and spiritual toll they bear. “They cry with the people, share their burden, but often have no one to cry with themselves. My mission is to support them to be with them, train them, help them understand what war does to the body and the soul. We must not run from wounds we don’t understand.”
As a former military chaplain, Bishop Honcharuk understands the weight of war. “We honor our soldiers not because they fight, but because they give up peace of mind to protect others. Taking a life marks a soul. God created us to love, not to kill. That is the price we pay for life and freedom.”
He recounted heartbreaking images of Ukrainian girls dancing at their graduations wearing the uniforms of fathers lost in the war. “There’s so much pain,” he said, “but even through tears, we can see God’s love quiet, persistent, and ever-present.”
“We are not just a Church in ruins,” Bishop Honcharuk concluded. “We are a Church on its feet, wounded but faithful loving, serving, and believing that even in the darkest night, the light of Christ does not go out.”