Priest to be expelled from Crimea after authorities refuse to renew permit

A Catholic priest serving in one of the parishes in the Crimean peninsula, occupied by Russian forces, will have to leave his post in October because the authorities will not renew his residence permit, writes Josef Pazderka.

Fr Piotr Rosochacki, a Polish-born priest who has been serving the Catholics in the Crimean capital of Simferopol for five years, said he had expected his permit to be extended as a matter of routine. “I was told that now I live in a different country. The exact reason for the refusal to prolong my permit was not given,” Fr Rosochacki told Polish media.

There are currently 12 Catholic priests serving in Crimea: eight Polish and four Ukrainian. Some of them fear similar problems.

Earlier this year, Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh, secretary general of the Ukrainian Catholic Synod of Bishops, warned that his Church could lose its legal status in Crimea under Russian rule. “Catholics who support Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity are being viewed as enemies. Priests’ families are also being mistreated by people influenced by Russian propaganda, which has succeeded in fuelling aggression between citizens who previously lived in peace,” he said.

The Ukrainian Catholic Church was outlawed under Soviet rule from 1946 to 1989.