LVIV, Ukraine - Pope John Paul may not have healed a 1,000-year rift between Christianity's two main branches as he left Ukraine on Wednesday but there were faint signs the gap between Orthodox and Catholics could be bridged.
The five-day trip, fiercely opposed by Ukraine's largest Orthodox Church, ended with a mass notable not only for the million people who attended but also for the presence of an Orthodox priest on the podium with the Pope.
Father Ivan Sviridov, an archpriest from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate, which had urged the Pontiff to cancel his trip, stood by the Pope at the ceremony in the western city of Lviv, the country's Catholic heartland.
Father Andrew Onuferko, a spokesman for the Greek Catholic Church, welcomed Sviridov's participation. He said it was not a major breakthrough but a small sign of hope for the future.
"Maybe he'll report back and he'll say, 'this is what I saw'," he said. "I hope they realise that contrary to what the Moscow Patriarchate has expressed we are not barbarian nationalist Greek Catholics."
Christianity's Catholic and Orthodox Churches split in the 'Great Schism' of 1054, creating a rift that the Pope has said he would dearly like to see healed.
The pontiff began his visit to the former Soviet republic with a diplomatic apology for past Catholic wrongs and assurance he was not seeking converts. He ended the trip with another appeal for reconciliation between the Churches.
"Unity and harmony. This is the secret of peace and condition for true and stable social progress," the Pope said in a speech at Lviv airport before departing for Rome.
"I extend respectful and heartfelt greetings to the brothers and sisters and to the pastors of the venerable Orthodox Church," he said.
BATTLEGROUND
Ukraine, with 10 million Orthodox believers and six million Catholics, has been a battleground for the two churches since the collapse of Communism a decade ago allowed religious expression to flourish.
The Moscow Patriarchate, which is linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, suspects Catholics of seeking converts in the cradle of Slavic Orthodoxy.
Its leader, Volodymyr, snubbed the Pope on Sunday by boycotting a meeting of all Ukraine's religious groups in the predominantly Orthodox capital Kiev.
Ukraine's Greek Catholic Church was persecuted under Stalinism as the state sought to force priests and worshippers to convert to Orthodoxy in a bid to wipe out an institution it suspected of harbouring nationalists.
The Pope beatified 28 Greek Catholics on Wednesday, including 27 martyrs, most killed by Soviet secret police.
Many believers in Ukraine spurn the politicking between Russia's Church, which enjoyed a spiritual monopoly in Soviet times, and other denominations.
"The rhetoric out of Moscow is more indicative of Moscow's position than of the situation in Ukraine," Onuferko said.
Thousands of Orthodox believers attended masses or lined streets during the Pope's stay in Kiev and Lviv.
Many from Ukraine's two smaller Orthodox Churches gave a cautious welcome to the visit and its aim for reconciliation and unity amongst Christians.
"It shouldn't matter if you are Catholic, Orthodox or Muslim," said Petro, a Greek Catholic taxi driver. "Whether you call him Allah or God, it's the same thing...I'm just glad to have the chance to see the Holy Father with my family."