The visit was part of a joint commitment to strengthening ties among Catholic higher education institutions across Europe at a time of major difficulties and challenges.
The delegation met with UCU's academic leadership, faculty deans and administrative bodies, as well as those leading pastoral and social initiatives. It also visited several centres and institutions founded by or working closely with the university, particularly those supporting vulnerable people, veterans and their families, and people most severely affected by the war.
The HKS highlighted a visit to the Superhumans Rehabilitation Centre, an innovative and internationally recognised facility specialising in the rehabilitation of war veterans, particularly amputees.
The delegation also met with Borys Gudziak, Archbishop-Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and president and first rector of UCU. They visited the Field of Mars cemetery at Lychakiv Cemetery, an important site of Ukrainian national remembrance, and prayed for fallen Ukrainian defenders.
The HKS said the visit underscored that Catholic universities in Europe are more than a network of institutions sharing an intellectual and spiritual tradition, but form a community committed to common values, including education and science, human dignity, justice, peace and the common good.
The university said the visit reaffirmed the belief that the challenges facing Catholic universities today cannot be addressed in isolation, whether they stem from social crises, cultural changes and a changing higher-education environment, or from operating amid armed conflict.