Bishop of Kyiv-Zhytomyr
Bishop Vitaliy Kryvytskyi was born on August 19, 1972, in Odesa. In 1987, he began his formation in the underground Church in his hometown under the guidance of the Salesian Fr. Tadeusz Hoppe, subsequently entering the Salesian Society of Saint John Bosco in 1990. After completing his studies at the Krakow Major Seminary, he was ordained a priest on May 24, 1997. Father Vitaliy initially carried out his pastoral ministry as a parochial vicar in Odesa (1997–2004). From 2004 to 2012, he led the parish and the Salesian community in Korostyshiv, in the Zhytomyr region. He then served for two years in Peremyshliany, in the Lviv region, before being appointed pastor of St. Peter’s Parish in Odesa in 2014. On Sunday, April 30, 2017, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had appointed Fr. Vitaliy Kryvytskyi, SDB—pastor of St. Peter’s Parish in Odesa—as Bishop of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese in Ukraine. On June 24, 2017, the ceremonies for the episcopal ordination and the *ingresso* (solemn entry into the diocese) of the new Ordinary of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese, Bishop Vitaliy Kryvytskyi, SDB, took place at the Co-Cathedral of St. Alexander in Kyiv.