Dominican Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe speaks to Vatican News about his ongoing visit to Ukraine, and the importance of prayer and Christian hope in times of conflict.
By Fr. Mariusz Krawiec, SSP Dominican Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe is visiting war-torn Ukraine in order to express his support and solidarity to the local Church, and the communities of the Order of Preachers. He arrived in the capital, Kyiv, on February 27, where he met the Bishop Vitalii Kryvytskyi of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, and visited a makeshift memorial for soldiers who have died during the war. He then preached a retreat from February 28 to March 1, and will spend the rest of his two-week trip visiting his Dominican brothers. In an interview with Vatican News, he reflected on the first days of his journey and the need for Christians to pray and hold onto hope in the face of the uncertainty and suffering that comes with war. Vatican News: Your Eminence, what does this visit to Ukraine and being here with the Ukrainian people mean to you? Cardinal Radcliffe: I am extremely happy to be here in Ukraine—a country I first visited thirty years ago. I came at the invitation of my brothers and gladly accepted it. Whenever I visit a country where there is suffering, I always learn something. So I have come above all to be with my brothers and sisters, but also because I am convinced that they have much to teach me. Q: What is the main message you bring with you? I think that when one arrives somewhere, one should not come with a ready-made message. One must come in order to listen, and what one has to say should first be born from listening to people. Therefore, I come not so much to speak as to hear. This is at the heart of synodality: we come as those who listen—listening to God and listening to one another. Q: The retreat you led in Kyiv was dedicated to the ‘Our Father.’ Why did you choose this theme? In times of suffering and war, prayer is vitally necessary. The ‘Our Father’ is the greatest of all prayers, the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus Himself prayed it as He was going up to Jerusalem to suffer and to die. He prayed it looking ahead—to the moment when He would be in the Garden of Gethsemane. Therefore, for each of us, especially when we face suffering, the Lord’s Prayer is a great gift. Q: We are here in Kyiv under Russian shelling, and our brothers and your friend Łukasz are in Jerusalem. We see that a new stage of the war has begun. Could you comment on the situation—in Ukraine and in the Holy Land? It is true: we see more and more violence everywhere. This is a time when wars are breaking out in many places—not only in Europe or the Middle East, but also in Africa, including South Sudan. And more than ever, we need a Christian witness that peace is possible, that war is not inevitable. In a time of war, we are called to be people of hope. I would say that the main message of Christians today is hope. Our Sacrament of the Eucharist was instituted at a moment when it seemed that no hope remained—during the Last Supper, when only death and violence lay ahead. It was precisely then that Jesus gave Himself. And this is our great Sacrament of hope. Therefore, my only message to the people of Ukraine or anywhere war continues is this: we place our hope in the Lord. His peace will ultimately prevail. Q: Your book “The Seven Last Words” – which focuses on Christ’s last seven phrases on the cross – has been published in Ukrainian. How would you describe it? This small book is closely connected with the theme of synodality—with learning to listen to one another. In times of violence, there is a temptation to close our ears. But we must listen. In our communities, as human beings, we listen to one another—especially when we disagree. It is precisely in disagreement that we can learn from one another. Our world is filled with slogans in which people are not truly trying to think or to open themselves to others. Instead, God’s call is to open our minds and hearts. That is why, in a time of war, the synodal path is so important. During the consistory in Rome in January, all the cardinals gathered together, and the first thing Pope Leo wanted was for us to listen to one another so that he could hear us. I believe this is a great gift of the Church to a world filled with violence. We listen not only with our ears and our minds, but also with our imagination. Can we imagine why others think differently from us?