Roman Catholics of Kyiv continue vain attempts to return St. Nicholas Church to their ownership

The St. Nicholas Catholic parish of Kyiv continues to publish appeals and statements demanding that the capital’s St. Nicholas Church be returned to their ownership. The RCC complains that despite all the promises and assurances from the Ministry of Culture that the church will be handed over to the faithful, this has not yet happened. This time, the Catholics of Kyiv addressed their video message to the President of Ukraine.

“We are all witnessing the injustice that is happening in our country. […] Since the beginning of the full-scale war, only the parish has been taking care of the church. We are trying to save at least something in the spiritual memory of our people. We also eliminated the consequences of the Russian shelling on December 20, 2024 — we saved the broken stained-glass windows of the facade; together with caring Kyiv residents, we cleaned and covered the broken windows. In turn, the Ministry of Culture and the National House of Music have not yet repaired the damaged roof or even done the least — they have not dismantled the hanging glass in the towers. Does anyone really want this building to be without life, without people who sincerely want to help others? Without the parish that saves this monument in Kyiv? Today we once again appeal to the authorities to return the church to the parish!”, — they said.

Earlier, we reported that the Office of the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture and the Kyiv City State Administration continue to delay the process of transferring St. Nicholas Church in the capital to the local Roman Catholic community. This time, the formal reason for the refusal was the Hungarian government’s proposal to restore the church, which was damaged in a rocket attack on the capital a few months ago. The capital’s Roman Catholics did not appreciate this “gesture of goodwill,” stating that in the two months since the attack, the government had made no effort, and that they had done most of the restoration work themselves.