World's youngest Catholic bishop consecrated in Ukraine

Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan 14, 2020 / 03:01 pm (CNA).- The world’s youngest Catholic bishop was consecrated in Ukraine Sunday.

Bishop Stepan Sus, 38, was consecrated a bishop in Kyiv’s Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ Jan. 12.

The Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church canonically elected Sus to be a Curial Bishop of the Major Archeparchy of Kyiv-Halyč. Pope Francis confirmed his selection Nov. 15, 2019.

The bishop said he found out about his appointment two days after running a 10k in the Marines Marathon in Washington D.C. with wounded Ukrainian veterans.

“When our muscles were still sore, I found out that I had a new marathon in the life of the Church,” Sus said after his episcopal consecration, according to the Lviv Portal.

After his priestly ordination for the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Lviv in 2006, Sus served as a military chaplain. From 2012 to 2019, he was parish priest of the Garrison Church of Sts. Peter and Paul and served as an advisor to the Lviv archeparchy.

While young for a bishop, Sus is not unexposed to human suffering, having conducted at least 76 funerals for Ukrainians killed in the Donbas region since 2014 amid a war with pro-Russian separatists.

Sus said that when accepting his position, he thought of the martyrs in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church “who became priests and bishops at a time when there were no solemn liturgies” and ended their lives exiled in labor camps. He said that he prayed for the martyrs’ intercession to make him worthy of the ministry of a bishop in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.

A native of Lviv, Sus studied at Ukrainian Catholic University and Holy Spirit Major Seminary in Lviv before earning a master’s degree in theology from the Catholic University of Lublin.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halyč was Sus’ principal consecrator.

“Last year, we commemorated the 30th anniversary of … the complete escape from the underground of our Church. Many of you were part of that remnant of Israel, the Ukrainian underground Church, which God preserved in the face of severe persecution. Because of that small bunch of people, because of that remnant, the whole Church has been resurrected,” Shevchuk said in his homily at the Mass.

“The ancient roots of the Church of Kyiv here, on the shores of the gray Dnieper, produce a new sprout. We have been killed and crucified many times, but our roots are alive,” he said.

Sus said he does not know what the future will bring, but has placed it in the hands of God, who has called him to this ministry.

“No matter how scary the word ‘curia’ might be, I know that with God all difficulties can be overcome,” the bishop said.