Court rejects MinCult’s request to delay transfer of RCC church to community

St. Nicholas Church in Kyiv. Photo: Community of the Roman Catholic Parish of St. Nicholas in Kyiv

On 12 November 2025, the Roman Catholic parish of St. Nicholas in Kyiv announced on its official Facebook page that the Dniprovskyi District Administrative Court had rejected the request of Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture to postpone the transfer of St. Nicholas Church to the religious community.

According to the parish, on 28 October the Ministry submitted a request asking the court to delay the enforcement of the ruling. The court not only denied the motion but also placed the enforcement process under judicial oversight. The Ministry must now provide a report on the status of its compliance.

The parish reminds that the state’s obligation to transfer the church to the Catholic community dates back to 2005. In January 2025 the court reaffirmed this requirement, but enforcement proceedings were never opened, effectively blocking the transfer process.

Fr. Paweł Wyszkowski, the rector of the parish, told OMI that the delay is political in nature and linked to interference from certain officials. He stressed that the community would not allow abuses surrounding the church and insists on full implementation of the court’s decision.

St. Nicholas Church is one of Kyiv’s most prominent architectural landmarks. In recent years, the building sustained damage from the 2021 fire and from a Russian missile strike in December 2024. The Ministry of Culture previously stated that restoration would follow the original 19th-century architectural plans.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the court had denied DESS’s request for injunctive relief in the case concerning the liquidation of the Korets Convent.

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