Mykola Bychok
{{Short description|Ukrainian Greek Catholic prelate and cardinal}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Cardinal
| name = Mykola Bychok
| honorific_prefix = His Eminence
| honorific_suffix = CSsR
| image = Mykola Bychok, CSsR.jpg
| caption = Bychok in October 2024
| birth_name = Mykola Petrovych Bychok
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1980|2|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = Ternopil, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
| alma_mater =
| church = Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
| title = Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne
| appointed = 15 January 2020
| predecessor = Peter Stasiuk
| successor =
| other_post = Cardinal-Priest of Santa Sofia a Via Boccea (2024–)
| ordination = 3 May 2005
| ordained_by = Ihor Vozniak
| consecration = 7 June 2020
| consecrated_by = Sviatoslav Shevchuk
| cardinal = 7 December 2024
| created_cardinal_by = Pope Francis
| rank = Cardinal-Priest
| coat_of_arms = 140px
| motto = {{lang|uk|Пресвятая Богородице, спаси нас}} (Most Holy Mother of God, save us){{cite web | access-date = 9 December 2024 | url = https://catholicukes.au/eparch/bishop-mykola-bychok/coat-of-arms/ | title = The coat of arms of Bishop Mykola Bychok | website = Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne}}
}}
Mykola Bychok {{post-nominals|post-noms=CSsR}} ({{langx|uk|Микола Бичок}}; born 13 February 1980) is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic{{efn|The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church "shares the full communion with Rome, although it adheres to the Byzantine rite, with a liturgy more similar to that of Orthodox Christians and a married clergy."}} prelate who has served as Eparch of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne since 2020. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 7 December 2024, making him the youngest member of the College of Cardinals and youngest elector in the 2025 papal conclave. He is a member of the Redemptorists.
Biography
Bychok was born in Ternopil in western Ukraine in 1980. He joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, popularly known as the Redemptorists, in July 1997. His religious training took place in Ukraine and Poland, where he obtained a licentiate in pastoral theology. On 17 August 2003, Bychok took his religious vows, and on 3 May 2005 he was ordained a priest in the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv.
Following his ordination, Bychok spent time as a missionary at the Mother of Perpetual Help Church in Prokopyevsk, Russia. He later served as the superior of Saint Joseph's Redemptorists Monastery and pastor of the Mother Parish of Perpetual Help in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. From 2015 to 2020 Bychok served as the vicar of the Ukrainian Catholic parish of Saint John the Baptist in Newark, New Jersey, part of the Archieparchy of Philadelphia of the Ukrainians.
On 15 January 2020, he was appointed by Pope Francis as the eparchial bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne, succeeding Peter Stasiuk.{{cite press release|title=Resignation of bishop of the eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians, Australia, and appointment of successor| url=http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2020/01/15/200115c.html|publisher=Holy See Press Office|date=15 January 2020|access-date=2 October 2020}} The eparchy's jurisdiction comprises Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania.
On 7 June 2020, the feast of Pentecost in the Julian calendar used by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church at the time, he was consecrated as bishop by Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk and other hierarchs of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in St. George's Cathedral, Lviv.{{Cite web|title=Axios! His Beatitude Sviatoslav ordained Mykola Bychok a newbishop| url=http://ukrarcheparchy.us/church-news/axios-his-beatitude-sviatoslav-ordained-mykola-bychok-a-new-bishop|date=8 June 2020|access-date=2 October 2020|publisher=Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200922175644/http://ukrarcheparchy.us/church-news/axios-his-beatitude-sviatoslav-ordained-mykola-bychok-a-new-bishop | archive-date = 22 September 2020}}{{cite news | access-date = 7 October 2024 | date = 7 October 2024 | url = https://www.kyivpost.com/post/40134 | work = Kyiv Post | title = Pope Francis Chooses Ukrainian Catholic Bishop to Become Cardinal }}
On 6 October 2024, Pope Francis announced that he planned to make him a cardinal on 8 December 2024,{{Cite web |last=Castellano Lubov |first=Deborah |date=6 October 2024 |title=Pope Francis announces Consistory for creation of new Cardinals - Vatican News |url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-10/pope-francis-announces-consistory-for-creation-of-new-cardinals.html |access-date=6 October 2024|website=Vatican News |language=en}} a date that was later changed to 7 December.{{cite news | access-date = 12 October 2024 | url = https://www.ncregister.com/cna/vatican-shares-pope-francis-schedule-for-december-consistory-to-create-cardinals?amp | first = Hannah | last = Brockhaus | date = 12 October 2024 | title = Vatican Shares Pope Francis' Schedule for December Consistory to Create Cardinals | work = National Catholic Register }} He became the youngest member of the College of Cardinals.{{cite news| access-date= 7 October 2024 | date = 7 October 2024| url= https://international.la-croix.com/world/who-are-the-21-new-cardinals-chosen-by-pope-francis | work= La Croix International | title = Who are the 21 new cardinals chosen by Pope Francis? | first=Malo |last=Tresca }}{{efn|His predecessor as youngest member is Cardinal Giorgio Marengo who is more than five and a half years older.}}
On 7 December 2024, Pope Francis made him a cardinal, assigning him as a member of the order of cardinal priests the title of Santa Sofia a Via Boccea.{{cite press release | access-date = 8 December 2024 | date = 7 December 2024 | language = it | publisher = Holy See Press Office | url = https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2024/12/07/0975/01948.html | title = Concistoro Ordinario Pubblico: Assegnazione dei Titoli e delle Diaconie ai nuovi Cardinali, 07.12.2024 }} In place of the red biretta given to the new cardinals of the Latin rite, Francis placed a black koukoulion with a red trim, a headdress typical of the Ukrainian monastic tradition consisting of a hood with two long lappets, on Bychok's head.{{cite web | access-date = 10 December 2024 | url = https://melbournecatholic.org/news/pope-calls-21-new-cardinals-including-melbournes-cardinal-mykola-bychok-to-build-church-unity | title = Pope calls 21 new cardinals, including Melbourne's Cardinal Mykola Bychok, to build church unity | website = Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne | date = 9 December 2024 }}
Honours
- {{flag|Sovereign Military Order of Malta}}: Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Order of Saint John{{cite web | website = Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church | access-date = 20 January 2025 | date =2 December 2024 | title = Bishop Mykola received the highest award from the Sovereign Order of Malta| url = https://ugcc.ua/en/data/bishop-mykola-received-the-highest-award-from-the-sovereign-order-of-malta-1312/}}
Notes
{{Notelist}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons category}}
- [https://catholicukes.au/ Ukrainian Catholic Church, Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne]
- [https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbychok.html Bychok on Catholic Hierarchy]
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{{s-bef|before=Peter Stasiuk }}
{{s-ttl|title=Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne|years=7 June 2020 – present }}
{{s-inc|rows=2}}
{{s-bef|before=Lubomyr Husar}}
{{s-ttl|title=Cardinal Priest of Santa Sofia a Via Boccea|years=7 December 2024 – present}}
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{{Ukrainian cardinals}}
{{Cardinals of the Catholic Church}}
{{Hierarchy of the UGCC}}
{{Australian Catholic Archbishops and Bishops}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bychok, Mykola}}
Category:Redemptorist cardinals
Category:Ukrainian Eastern Catholics
Category:Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Category:Eastern Catholic bishops in Oceania
Category:Ukrainian emigrants to Australia
Category:Ukrainian emigrants to the United States