Bishop Oleksandr Yazlovetskiy becomes the new president of the Religious Mission Caritas-Spes Ukraine
This year, the presidency of Father Petro Zharkovskyi, who headed the Mission from 2016 to 2022, has ended. On December 15, the Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops of Ukraine appointed Oleksandr Yazlovetskiy, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr, as the new President of the RM Caritas-Spes Ukraine.
"God entrusts me with a ministry that I will gladly fulfill," Bishop Oleksandr commented on his new position. Fr. Petro Zharkovsky, commenting on the new appointment, said, "I am very grateful to the Conference of Bishops for the mission entrusted to me. Caritas-Spes is faith in action. It is easy to entrust this work of mercy into the hands of Bishop Oleksandr". The 6 years of Fr. Peter Zharkovskyi's presidency were marked by service in turbulent times. During his presidency, the Mission responded to the challenges associated with the ATO, the pandemic and launched a large-scale work aimed at helping the victims of the Great War.
To recap: The Religious Mission Caritas-Spes Ukraine has been working for 26 years to implement the social ministry of the Catholic Church aimed at ending poverty, promoting justice and restoring human dignity, regardless of religion, nationality, political or ideological beliefs. The year 2022 brought new enormous challenges for the Mission. During the 9 months of the full scale war, Caritas-Spes Ukraine deployed humanitarian service covering more than 15,000 settlements and provided 3 million social services. This includes long-term accommodation for internally displaced persons, humanitarian support for IDPs, providing access to food and hygiene for residents of frontline areas and settlements cut off from humanitarian supplies, assistance in vinterization, reconstruction of destroyed housing, etc. Also under the care of the Mission are family-type orphanages, homes for the elderly and for single mothers with children.
According to the CMC: Bishop Oleksandr Yazlovetskiy was born on March 2, 1979 in Sharhorod, Vinnytsia region. After studying at the Higher Theological Seminary in Horodok, on June 26, 2004, he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Kamianets-Podilskyi. For two years, Fr. Oleksandr pastored in Murafa and served at the seminary in Horodok, and in 2006 he began his studies at the Pontifical Lateran University, defending his doctorate in canon law in 2013. After returning to Ukraine, he became vice rector and economist of the seminary in Horodok, and a rector in 2014. In 2018, he was appointed Chancellor of the Curia of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese. On September 18, 2019, Pope Francis appointed Fr. Oleksandr Yazlovetskiy as Auxiliary Bishop of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese, granting him the titular see of Tulana. He speaks Ukrainian, English, Italian and Polish.
