The ambassador of Ukraine to the Vatican was summoned to the Pope in connection with the bills directed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), said the clergyman of the UOC-MP, archpriest Nikolay Danilevich. 

‘To the attention of MPs of the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine.The Vatican is concerned about the possibility of adopting laws NN 4128 and 4511 (laws against the UOC-MP). Our Ukrainian ambassador was summoned to the Vatican.The Vatican fully agrees with the position expressed by the Roman Catholic Bishop, Stanislav Shirokoradyuk, on this matter,’ he noted in Facebook. 

The day before the discussion of the «church bills» in the parliament was canceled.

The bill N 4128 «On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine «On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations» (on the substitution of subordination by religious organizations)» proposes introducing a vague notion of ‘belonging of a person to a religious community’ in religious legislation on the basis of some ‘self-identification’. Individuals ‘belonging to a religious community’, whoever would claim this title, are proposed to be given the right to change the charter of the community by a simple majority vote. In fact, the bill proposes to legalize the practice of fictitious «referendums» with the participation of all residents of the locality (and possibly visitors), claiming to belong to this religious community. 

The second bill N 4511 «On the special status of religious organizations whose governing centers are located in a state that is recognized by the Verkhovnaya Rada as an aggressor country» proposes to impose a ‘special status’ on all communities whose canonical centers are in Russia, which is associated with a significant defeat in their rights.