Zenit:
Pope Francis today received in private audience His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, major archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc in Ukraine.
The meeting followed yesterdays referendum in which pro-Russian voters on the Crimean peninsula voted to secede from Ukraine. The United States and European Union have called the referendum illegal.
No details of todays meeting have been given but it is likely that the fate of the Ukrainian Catholic priests ministering in Crimea was discussed.
Over the weekend, a Ukrainian pastor was released after being taken captive from his church in Crimea. Father Mykola Kvych, pastor of the Dormition of the Mother of God Parish in Sevastopol, was taken from his church by two men in uniform and four men in civilian clothing, according to a Ukrainian Catholic Church spokesman.
Father Kvych and other priests in Crimea were urged to evacuate with their families to mainland Ukraine, but the priests returned to their parishes to be with their faithful during the crisis. Read more here
