The letter is dated Aug. 19, 1963, and requests the pope recognize the Greek Catholic Patriarchate.
The second document is a letter sent by the Greek Catholic Bishops taking part to the Second Vatican Council.
And the third document is a letter by Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, the Major Archbishop's predecessor as head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
Cardinal Husar stressed that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church have "all the rights and the signs of a Patriarchal Church," and underscored that "the final goal is the flourishing life of the Church of Kiev: Patriarchate is a state of mind, and the most important manifestation of the essence and the vocation of the Church."
Cardinal Husar also listed five reasons why the possible establishment of a Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is always rejected.
The reasons mentioned were that the Patriarchate could weaken its link with Rome; that the Patriarchate could generate a nationalist Church and division with the other confessions; that the Patriarchate might be an obstacle to the union of Christians in Ukraine; that a Greek Catholic Patriarchate would threaten the Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate that considers Ukraine as its own territory; that the Patriarchate would be a 'revival' of the notion of uniate Church, already condemned as a wrong path to reach out for unity.
Major Archbishop Shevchuk described Cardinal Husar analysis as "exhaustive."
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church also debunked these five reasons. He maintained that these objections show a lack of understanding of the role of the Pope as a universal bishop. So, he added, a Greek Catholic Patriarchate could have "the function to show the orthodox world the ministry of Peter's successor, without in any way weakening the communion with Peter."
The example of an Orthodox Church in communion with Rome – Major Archbishop Shevchuk added, witnesses "the unity of the Christ's Church of the first millennium."
With the reference to the first millennium, the Major Archbishop went beyond the Moscow Patriarchate's ecclesiastical and historical memory, because the Moscow Patriarchate "was born and formed after the so called Great Schism."
Andrea Gagliarducci is an Italian journalist for Catholic News Agency and Vatican analyst for ACI Stampa. He is a contributor to the National Catholic Register.