Ukrainian Roman Catholics addressed the police with a call to make all necessary steps to investigate properly the incident regarding the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Kyiv.
Ordinary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) in Ukraine, Petro Malchuk, Auxiliary Bishop of Kyiv Zhytomyr Diocese of RCC, Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk, Senior Priest of the Parish of St. Francis, Fr. Francis Botwin and Press-Secretary of the province of St. Archangel Michael of the Franciscan Order, Fr. Patrik Olikh held a press conference in this regard on April 19.
The RCC reps of reminded that on April 16, during the evening prayer, at the site of construction of the Catholic Church of St. Francis in Kyiv unknown persons wounded two nuns with a pneumatic weapon. One was shot in the hand and another one in the nose. The police and an ambulance were called at once. One nun was operated on and a bullet was removed from her nose. However, the police reduced the incident to disorderly conduct.
“On April 17, mass media spread a statement of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stating that nothing happened there in reality. The police said to journalists it was disorderly misconduct and that there were no shots fired near the church,” said Fr. Patrik Olikh.
The Catholics were surprised at such a development
“How can one make a statement before the completion of the medical examination of the victim? For x-rays and other examinations detected metal objects in the soft tissues of the face. The bullets were removed only today, on April 19. One can see them in the photos,” commented the minister.
The spokesman of the Franciscans reported that they suspended the construction of the church and offered the local residents to set up a special group for negotiations to relieve the tension and reach agreement in a lawful way.