For six months, Roman Catholics in Kyiv have been unsuccessfully trying to regain possession of the capital's St. Nicholas Church

Six months after the court ruled to transfer the Mykolaiv Church in Kyiv to the local Roman Catholic community, the Ministry of Culture has still not complied with the court’s decision. In this regard, the religious community appealed to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the failure of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine to comply with the court’s decision to transfer the church to the parish. This was reported by RISU.

«More than six months have passed since the court ordered the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine to cease its inaction regarding the return of the church to us and, in the name of justice, to comply with the court’s decision, but the Ministry has still done nothing to this end. Failure to comply with the court decision grossly violates our constitutional right to judicial protection and undermines Ukraine’s authority as a state governed by the rule of law,» — said parish priest Pavlo Vyshkovsky during a meeting with the ombudsman.

Bishop Vitaliy Kryvytskyi, Ordinary of the Kyiv-Zhytomyr Diocese, said: «I would like to remind you that the Council of Europe has twice sent Ukraine an order to return sacred buildings to believers, and this is a prerequisite for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. We, as Catholic bishops of Ukraine, refute information abroad that there is religious persecution in Ukraine, and I am reminded: what about here, in the very capital of Ukraine, with your church?».

Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, in turn, stated that “the entire branch of government is responsible for the Ministry’s failure to comply with the court decision, and I am very sorry that this situation still exists. Parliamentary control must intervene in this situation.”

We previously reported that the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine continues to sabotage the implementation of the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, according to which the MCIP is obliged to transfer ownership of St. Nicholas Church, which is used as a place of worship and a venue for organ music, to the Roman Catholic community of the capital. In this regard, the Roman Catholic community appealed to the newly appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko. In its statement, the Roman Catholic community hinted that the Ministry of Culture is using the church as an object for illegal enrichment.