Ukrainian People's Party in Sevastopol Demands That Church Building Should Be Returned to Roman Catholics

The Crimean organization of the Ukrainian People’s Party demands from the head of the Sevastopol City State Administration to transfer to the Sevastopol Roman Catholic community the building of the former Church of St. Clement of Rome (now, the cinema house Friendship).

Crimean organization of the Ukrainian People’s Party reported UNIAN that the party refers to the requirements of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law “On the Freedom of Worship and Religious Organizations,” Presidential Decree “On Restitution of Religious Property to Religious Organizations,” instruction of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine according to which city state administrations were to ensure restitution stage by stage of religious buildings, used for non-intended purposes, to religious organizations.

According to the Ukrainian People’s Party, the next stage should be the allocation of land plots or buildings for the religious needs of Greek Catholics and the Orthodox of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate.

“Despite the fact that there are many Greek Catholics and Orthodox of the Kyivan Patriarchate not only among the Sevastopol residents themselves but also among the servicemen of the Ukrainian Navy, only Russian Churches today have appropriate buildings, whereas the faithful of the Ukrainian Churches have to conduct services in apartments as at the Soviet times,” said the head of the Crimean organization of the Ukrainian People’s Party, Oleh Fomushkin. He calls this status quo unacceptable as the communities are deprived of the constitutional right to the freedom of confession.