Mykola Bychok: the Melbourne bishop who will help choose the next pope

As a cardinal under the age of 80, the Ukrainian-born priest will be one of the select few Catholic leaders to gather in the Vatican for the papal conclave

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A 45-year-old Ukrainian-born Melbourne bishop who will be among the world’s top-ranking Catholic officials who will vote to select the next pope says he is filled with sadness over Pope Francis’s death.

Mykola Bychok, Australia’s highest ranking Catholic official after Francis made him a cardinal late last year, is currently on his way to the Middle East for a pilgrimage but will travel on to Rome for the funeral and then the papal conclave.

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