Ukraine: religious leaders of the United Kingdom, “too few visas to refugees. Simplifying bureaucracy and taking them in”

“How can mothers with young children, old and disabled people, back from journeys of thousands of kilometres, fill in online visa applications in a language that they do not speak?”. It is London’s leaders of the main religions of the United Kingdom who ask such question to the British Government, which has been harshly criticised these days for granting just 850 visas to the over 22 thousand Ukrainian applicants. “Simplifying bureaucracy and taking the refugees in as quickly as possible, not just Ukrainians who have relatives in the United Kingdom but any refugee from that country”. This is what the leaders asked of the British Government, in a letter written after a moment of prayer in the Cathedral of the Holy Family in London, the centre of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic community of the United Kingdom. The appeal was signed by the Catholic primate of England and Wales, Vincent Nichols, the British Greek archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain, Nikitas, the Anglican bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun, and other leaders of the Methodist, Baptist and free Churches. “As the children and grandchildren of those who experienced the horrors of the war seventy years ago, we have the moral imperative to give protection and hospitality to those who are experiencing the same horrors now, no matter who unbelievable it may sound in this twenty-first century”, the religious leaders write.Valentina Bombelli