Changes in Personnel for the Congregation for the Oriental Churches

Magister: From the East Not Light But Darkness. Strange Shufflings in the Roman Curia

And in fact, rather than a promotion, the new role given to Vasil is a downgrade. His ambition was to return home as the major archbishop of an unprecedented and transnational Church of the Ruthenians, with its metropolitan see in Presov, which would bring together Slovaks, Croats and Hungarians of the Greek-Catholic rite, plus the  the annexation of a Ukrainian diocese, that of Mukachevo, also populated by Ruthenians, for a total of about 200 thousand faithful.

Of course, this project was hardly pleasing to the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine. It was counting instead on the promotion to Rome, as the new secretary of the congregation, of one of its bishops, Teodor Martynyuk, auxiliary of the Greek Catholic diocese of Ternopil.

But neither aim has hit the mark. Instead of the Ukrainian Martynyuk - or at least another easterner - a Latinizing Italian has been made secretary. While Vasil is for now only temporary administrator of a diocese subordinate to Presov, that of Kosice, whose bishop, Milan Chautur, is still in office, albeit under investigation by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith for allegations of sexual harassment against a minor.