JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk is the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the third-largest religion in Ukraine. As the Trump administration begins talks with Russia about its war in Ukraine, Shevchuk has been traveling in the United States. Buffy Gorrilla has more from Philadelphia, where Shevchuk recently celebrated a mass with members of the Ukrainian diaspora.
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BUFFY GORRILLA, BYLINE: On a cold Sunday morning, the pews of Philadelphia's Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception are packed. Over a thousand people have come to hear Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, speak.
SVIATOSLAV SHEVCHUK: The good people of the USA, who in this very dramatic circumstances of my country, stay with us, especially in this moment, when the Ukrainian people received some mixed signals from the international society. Thank you for being faithful.
MELANIA SCHNITZER: Now, Ukraine needs a lot of encouragement, and the most that we could get. I'm really thankful for that.
GORRILLA: Melania Schnitzer is an undergraduate at Temple University who came with her family to see the archbishop.
SCHNITZER: I've never actually seen him before, but I'm glad that he's here because a lot of people will come to these kinds of events from all kinds of states, and it really just brings us closer as a community.
GORRILLA: The Ukrainian Greek Catholic community is made up of about 5 million people, and what began as a spiritual mission became a geopolitical one. The archbishop's pleas come as President Trump has been spreading misinformation about how the war started. According to Professor Cathy Wanner from Penn State University, Shevchuk is an important figure at home and abroad.
CATHY WANNER: One of the reasons why he's come to the United States is to make a case for the moral responsibility for helping to achieve peace, certainly in Ukraine, but even elsewhere in the world. I think he has a certain moral authority, and he makes that case quite effectively. He also is trying to renew a sense of hope.
GORRILLA: During his visit to the United States, Shevchuk had meetings with representatives of the newly formed White House Faith Office and the U.S. Institute for (ph) Peace.
WANNER: I think when he pushes back against claims that Ukraine started the war or that Zelenskyy is a dictator, I think we have to take his words quite seriously. He is from Ukraine. He's living throughout this war. He knows that, of course, this is a bald-faced lie. Ukraine did not start the war. It was invaded.
GORRILLA: Shevchuk says that some people expect the war to deescalate in the coming months. But the archbishop said questions remain about how exactly that would happen.
SHEVCHUK: Will it be a simple ceasefire? Will Ukraine have some guarantees of the protection from those who are talking about peace in Ukraine? But we, as Christians, we do understand that there is no peace without justice, peace without protecting the human rights, peace without respect of human dignity. It is simple mockery.
GORRILLA: While he is not a politician, Shevchuk has a message for the politicians working to end the war.
SHEVCHUK: Be aware that your ministry as politicians is a service for the dignity and freedom of the human life. Please be faithful to your vocation and dignity.
GORRILLA: For NPR 瓜神app in Philadelphia, I'm Buffy Gorrilla.
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