Petition for transfer of Kyiv Nicholas Church to RCC gathers 25,000 votes
Catholics argue that the church should belong to members of the religious community whose ancestors built the church.
A petition for the transfer of St. Nicholas Church in Kyiv to the Roman Catholic Church's religious community has gained 25,000 votes, according to Credo. The petition was registered on the Cabinet of Ministers' website on October 27, 2023.
The petitioners are seeking the transfer based on the provisions made in June 2022 through a relevant decree of the Cabinet of Ministers and a Memorandum between the Ministry of Culture and the parish, which, however, has not been implemented.
Father Pavlo Vyshkovskyi, the rector of the St. Nicholas parish, stated that signing the petition is evidence that people are heeding the voice of God's law during the war.
"We are united not only by the desire to save the church but also by a simple human thirst for justice, so that this house of God, which the communists stole from the Church back in 1938 and which has been used and profited from by various followers ever since under the pretext of unjust human laws—so that this church can finally be returned to its owners, the parish whose ancestors built it," he added.
It's worth noting that in the fall of 2021, Catholics demanded that the President hand over St. Nicholas Church to them after a fire incident, to which Zelensky responded with a refusal.
As reported by the UOJ, the Supreme Court of Ukraine ordered the UOC to transfer the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kremenets, Ternopil region, to the state historical and architectural reserve.
