Odesa authorities ban procession of Roman Catholic community

The sixth Diocesan Youth Day was held in Odesa from August 19 to 21. Youth from the Odesa-Simferopol diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, and also Khmelnytsky, Kyiv, Zhytomyr Oblasts attended this event.

In previous years on the last day of the meeting young people made a Cross Procession from the Church of St. Peter to the Assumption Cathedral. But this year for first time authorities of Odesa did not issue a permission and did not take measures to redirect traffic.

As Bishop Bronislaw Bernatsky said, he sees in the actions of the Odesa city government  a tendency to restrict the rights of the Catholic community in Odesa. This year the Odesa authorities also banned the procession during Corpus Christi holiday.