Cardinal Mykola Bychok has described the forthcoming funeral of Pope Francis as a “profoundly sacred moment for the Church and for the world”.

This is the text of a statement he delivered to media in Rome on April 25, ahead of the funeral Mass on April 26.

Thank you for coming today. As you can imagine this has been a most challenging time.

I am most grateful for my brother bishops Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and Bishop Anthony Randazzo, President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania, who have joined me today.

And to Cardinal John Dew of New Zealand, Emeritus Archbishop of Wellington, which is appropriate and appreciated especially as we commemorate ANZAC Day

It is with a deeply moved heart that I stand before you today in Rome, just hours before we bid farewell to our Holy Father, Pope Francis. This is a profoundly sacred moment for the Church and for the world.

As a newly appointed cardinal, this experience is still very new to me.

I have only just arrived here in Rome, after spending several days in the Holy Land—days that were marked by silence, prayer, and reflection in the very places where our Lord walked. That time of prayer has been a spiritual preparation for this moment of mourning, but also of gratitude.

We come here with sorrow, but not without hope. As we prepare for the funeral of Pope Francis, we entrust his soul to the boundless mercy of God. He himself often said, “The name of God is mercy.” And indeed, if there was ever a Pope who proclaimed, lived, and embodied God’s mercy, it was Francis.

Mercy

He was a Pope of mercy—not just in word, but in action. He reached out to the poor, the excluded, the wounded. He taught us not to judge but to accompany. He reminded us again and again that no one is beyond the reach of God’s love.

For me, as a Ukrainian and as someone who ministers to Ukrainian Catholics in Australia, Pope Francis’ closeness to Ukraine has been especially moving. In our darkest hours, he did not forget us.

He spoke often of our suffering. He prayed for peace. He wept with us. He appealed to the world not to grow indifferent.

While some may have wished for stronger political gestures, what the Pope offered was something uniquely Christian: a pastoral closeness, a fatherly concern, and an unceasing call for peace—not revenge, not escalation, but peace rooted in justice and reconciliation.

He was a bridge builder. A man who never stopped hoping that peace, even in the most hopeless of situations, is possible with God.

As I prepare to join the College of Cardinals in saying farewell to our spiritual father, I do so with a sense of humility and responsibility.

This is a historic moment. For the Church. For the world. And for me, as a young cardinal, it is a moment of learning, of listening, and of standing in unity with my brothers from around the globe.

We pray now that the Lord, rich in mercy, will receive Pope Francis into His eternal embrace. And we ask for the grace to carry forward his legacy—a legacy of mercy, of simplicity, of love for the poor, and of tireless work for peace.

Cardinal Mykola Bychok CSrR is Eparch of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Australia and Oceania and a member of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.