Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, called on Ukrainian emigrants in Latvia to join the Greek Catholic Church

During his visit to Riga, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), called on Ukrainian citizens living in Latvia to become members of the UGCC. According to the UGCC press service, this appeal was made on October 17, 2026, during a sermon dedicated to the unification of the Ukrainian diaspora.

In his address, Shevchuk emphasized that a person’s past church experience or native language is not an obstacle to joining the UGCC. According to him, the Church seeks to create “one large Ukrainian Christian family” without imposing conditions regarding which denominational community a person belonged to before emigrating.

“We do not ask which Church a person belonged to in Ukraine, nor do we ask what language they spoke,” noted the head of the UGCC, explaining his organization’s openness to all compatriots abroad.

As a reminder, we previously reported that representatives of the UGCC are extremely concerned about the growth of parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Western Europe. In particular, Taras Antoshevsky, editor-in-chief of the Uniate publication “RISU,” claims that clergy of the UOC abroad, under the guise of developing parishes, are collaborating “with agents” in order to further influence Ukrainians in the diaspora.