A peace dove painted on shards of glass from the St. Nicholas Church in Kyiv was presented to the Pope.

Ukrainian artist Yama Targonia presented a blue-and-yellow dove of peace to Pope Francis, which she created from a piece of stained glass from St. Nicholas Church in Kyiv, damaged during a Russian attack on December 20, 2024. This was reported by the press service of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, as conveyed by UNN.

Details

It is noted that on the morning of December 24, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the head of the Dicastery for Charity, visited St. Nicholas Church while en route to Kharkiv.

He began his visit to the church with a prayer for a just peace in Ukraine and for the return of the church to the parish, a transfer that representatives of the Ukrainian authorities announced to Pope John Paul II back in 2001.

Afterward, the cardinal, accompanied by the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, inspected the damage to the church that occurred as a result of the Russian strike on Friday, December 20. In particular, he examined shards of glass from the church's façade that had been preserved by the parish.

One of the parishioners, artist Yana Targonia, gifted the Holy Father Francis a drawing of a dove of peace in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, made on the broken glass, with the inscription "a piece of stained glass from the façade of St. Nicholas Church 20.12.2024."

Meanwhile, the chairman of the board for the church's preservation, Yuriy Tandit, noted that this dove from the Ukrainian artist is "a piece of our heart, filled with love, suffering, and drops of the blood of Jesus Christ."

At the same time, the church's rector, Father Pavel Vyshkovsky, stated that despite the destruction, festive Christmas services will take place on December 24 and 25.

Recall that

As a result of the Russian missile strike on Kyiv, the St. Nicholas Church was damaged—the towers and stained glass of the temple were affected. One person was killed, and about ten were injured in the attack.