Eduard Kava

Bishop Kawa was born in the Polish family of Stanisław and Kazimiera (née Dorosz) Kawa in the Western Ukraine. After graduation of the school education, joined the Order of Friars Minor Conventual in 1995;[1] he made a profession on September 28, 1997 and a solemn profession on December 15, 2001, and was ordained as priest on June 1, 2003,[2] after graduation of the Major Franciscan Theological Seminary in Kraków, Poland and Major Theological Seminary of Mary – the Queen of Apostles in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.[1]

He returned to Ukraine in 2003 and began to work in the Franciscan parishes and as superior of the different local Franciscan communities. During 2016–2017 he served as a Guardian of the convent of the parish of St. Antony in Lviv.[1]

On May 13, 2017, he was appointed by the Pope Francis as the second Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Lviv, Ukraine and Titular Bishop of Cilibia. On June 21, 2017, he was consecrated as bishop by Metropolitan Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki and other prelates of the Roman Catholic Church.[2]

Bishop Kawa spoke out on multiple occasions about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, in February 2022, he was critical of his brother bishops in Germany, Belarus and Germany, for not speaking openly about the situation, saying: "Why are you silent while we are being killed? Where is your voice of solidarity with the innocent victims of Putin's Russia? Where are your actions that show love; deeds without which our Christian faith is dead; where is your active position? Some of the leaders of your countries support aggression, others are its source, and you are silent? Is this your version of Christianity? Do you still remember that keeping silent about sin is also a sin?"[3]

In August 2022 he said: "We are losing sons and daughters of our people, we are losing territories, but Ukraine is still an independent state! And today, more than ever before, we value and honor this independence of ours. And we know that every drop of blood and sweat, every life, all our prayers, tears of wives and mothers, all the pain and fear that have accompanied us for 6 months - everything is not in vain. Today we prove to ourselves that we are worthy and worthy of this gift of God, which is independence, and we are ready to fight for this gift."[4]

In September he referred to a Russian drone strike on a Caritas Spes warehouse in Lviv as "an attack on the poorest and most needy".[5]