In a meeting that was not included in the Holy See Press Office’s official list of audiences, Pope Francis received Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, on November 13.

Thanking the Pope for his prayers for the nation, the Eastern Catholic prelate discussed the War in Donbass and said that “a small oligarchic group is being enriched by destroying small and medium-sized businesses. In fact, the middle class is disappearing, the impoverishment of the people is happening at a rapid pace, people are afraid of winter, prices are rising.”