Well it's done. The Ukranian Catholics moved their headquarters from Lviv to Kiev. I say better sooner than later. It was the right thing to do, and time will heal the wounds caused by it, so do the deed and let the long healing process begin.
How long will it take? Well, here's a hint:
The mass took place amid tight security, as several hundred Orthodox protesters gathered near the site, denouncing the move.
"Orthodox or death!" they chanted, accusing the Vatican of proselytising.
"You can kill us but you cannot take our faith from us!" demonstrators shouted.
Yup. Saw that one coming. I find the slogan "Orthodox or death" unbelievably humorous, though. As any intelligent person can see, this is obviously only the first step; next, Pope Benedict will preach a crusade among all those English, French, and German nobles who have private armies and way too many younger sons, and send them into the Ukraine to slaughter the Orthodox.
How much you wanna bet this scuttles Papa Benny's trip to Constantinople?
Does the tension run that far south? That's too bad.
I'm not sure about this particular instance, but last year when the idea of officially declaring a Ukrainian patriarchate was floated, the response from the Orthodox was unanimously negative (including the Ecumenical Patriarch), and threatened a severance of dialogue. Now, this isn't quite the same thing, but I suspect that the Ecumenical Patriarch isn't all that happy today.
Turkish papers are apparently reporting the trip is a done deal (for the feast of St. Andrew!) It will be interesting to see what happens.