In an October 25 video message, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, offered an update on the Russian invasion of his land, and discussed attacks on Ukrainian families, including abortion, contraception, and cohabitation.

“Unfortunately, the number of families that form a faithful, unbreakable union until death is steadily decreasing throughout the world,” he said. “Cohabitation without responsibilities and the coexistence of Christians without the Sacrament of Marriage is a new modern myth that destroys and ruins the Christian family.

He continued, “In such a context, obviously, without any obligations to each other, couples are in fact just trying to find some kind of mutual pleasure … This type of cohabitation without marriage, without God’s blessing, is an insult to human dignity, is a misunderstanding of true love.”