June 15, 2025, 2:28 p.m.
(The building of the former church in Sevastopol. Photo: radiosvoboda)
In Sevastopol, Russian occupants have launched a raider seizure of a historic Roman Catholic church building.
According to Holos Kryma, the Russians plan to turn the religious building into a wedding palace or concert hall.
"This is yet another example of the oppression of religious freedoms on the peninsula. the Kremlin consistently destroys independent communities that do not fit into the 'Orthodox staples' and are not controlled by Moscow," the report says.
During World War II, the building of the Roman Catholic Church in Sevastopol was destroyed. During the Soviet era, it was rebuilt and converted into the Druzhba children's cinema. During the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2018, the church was transferred to the religious community.
Now, as "Holos Kryma" has found out, the occupiers have again raised the issue of the prospects of the Roman Catholic church building. Before the return of the church building to the faithful, the occupation "authorities" of the city expressed their intention to equip it with a palace of ceremonial events or a concert hall with an organ.
According to the rector of the parish, Father Mateusz, he is not aware of the prospects for the church building, which are not clearly outlined by the occupation "authorities" of Sevastopol. He also noted that the lack of formalized "rights" to the land and "permission" to carry out the relevant work due to the unresolved issue of the boundaries of the land plot, which neighboring tenants do not agree to change, was an obstacle to the restoration of the historic building.
"The priest explained that the religious community could not meet with the new owner of the nearby Ukraina Hotel, with whom the parish has a land dispute," the media outlet reported.
Due to these difficulties, as well as the emergency state of the church building, members of the Catholic community, who number up to 500 in occupied Sevastopol, are still forced, as they were several decades before, to gather for worship in an apartment equipped as a chapel.
Earlier, the occupation authorities dismantled the dome of the Cathedral of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the temporarily occupied Simferopol. In general, Russia is constantly destroying Ukrainian churches, arresting and torturing clergy, and persecuting representatives of religious communities who are disloyal to Russia.
Олеся Ланцман