The church is the
national church for the
Ukrainians in Rome, a meeting place and religious center for the community. The
Divine Liturgy is celebrated according to the
Byzantine-Ukrainian rite, whilst still in
full communion with the
Catholic Church. The church was built in 1967–1968 on the orders of Cardinal
Josyf Slipyj, the Major Archbishop of Lviv, who had spent about 18 years in a Soviet
gulag, and upon his release was not allowed to return to
Ukraine. The building is modeled after
Kyiv's
Saint Sophia Cathedral. The
relics of
Pope Clement I (88-97) are kept in the church. Following the Byzantine rite, the church has an
iconostasis, painted by Juvenalij Josyf Mokryckyj. In 1985
Pope John Paul II erected the church as one of the
titular churches suitable for
a cardinal-priest. In 1998 the church was raised to the status of a
minor basilica. ==Cardinal Priest title==