Robert "Wiktor Porycki" Fidura

Pray for Kraków. Firefighters confirmed 2 people lost their lives and 10 are injured by gunshots on the Main Square. All I hear from my window is police cars. Stay safe if you're in the city and abide to guidelines of authorities.

This is a Polish priest Father Adrian Mantykiewicz. He is a victim of a knife attack and in his first homily after the tragedy, he left the county in owe with his message of forgiveness, still with fresh wounds very visible on his face. He was wounded in a knife attack at a Catholic complex in southeastern Poland Sept. 24. His brother priest, Father Stanisław Zbojniewicz, was killed. Another priest is fighting for his life in the hospital. The homily video is from the first Mass after the Jarosław Benedictine abbey opened their doors following the tragedy, in which Police detained the suspect shortly after the attack -- a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen. Jarosław is a city about 20 miles from Poland’s border with Ukraine. Father Adrian, still with his hospital bandages and badly bruised, said in his homily: "From this place, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I wish -- on my own behalf, as well as on behalf of Father Marek and Father Stanisław -- to state very clearly that we forgive." He also asked for prayers: " for us, for Father Stanisław -- for the repose of his soul -- and for the health of Father Marek, who is still fighting for his life in the hospital. We ask for prayers for me, too, that I may return to my full duties as soon as possible and continue to serve you here." He had another, and most important -- he said, prayer request: "I ask you to pray for our assailant and for the grace of conversion for him. I speak these words from the depths of my heart. He is the one who needs this prayer the most. For no matter what happened -- the evil that occurred here in our abbey -- we must overcome it with good, with love, and with forgiveness. That is why I ask you to forgive as well, for this has affected all of you." Right after the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, Poles engaged in a massive charity campaign, accepting Ukrainians in their homes, and a border city of Jaroslaw was first on this front. But today, amid colder political relations between the two nations over historical disputes, the sentiment of the society is colder as well, and many Poles are quick to blame an attack of this kind on the whole Ukrainian nation. Father Adrian rejected such way of thinking. "From this place, I also want to ask you not to blame the nation from which the assailant came, because it was a specific individual who committed this evil act. It was a specific person." "It was not committed by other people; it was one single individual. Therefore, I ask you not to repay evil with evil, but with love, support, understanding, and care. I ask you to show respect for the people who live in our abbey, in our city, in our region, and in our country. I ask you to respect and support one another as two brotherly nations." When the war in Ukraine broke out, "you well remember what happened here at our abbey," Father Adrian said, recalling how they opened our doors "to the people who came to us." "People in need of help, support, care, and love -- and sometimes, simply ordinary human kindness. And you know well that no one here was left without assistance. We worked with all our might, often through the night, going without sleep for hours on end. That is why I ask that this work of ours -- our effort and our toil -- not go to waste; for I believe that is what we teach here: to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple who loves, who supports, and who cares for others." The homily was shared by Polish Catholic Radio Fara. I added the English subtitles.

In an open letter addressed to Pope Leo XIV, five alleged victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Slovenian Father Marko Rupnik said the silence and lack of information regarding the artist’s canonical trial added to their suffering. The letter, which was shared with OSV News Sept. 23 by their lawyer, Laura Sgro, said the “prolonged silence” they have experienced was “a further and ongoing form of violence that bears down like a heavy boulder on the violence we have already endured.” “Sexual, physical, psychological, and spiritual violence; an enduring violence inflicted upon the soul, to which is now added this new and agonizing violence of silence and abandonment by the justice system,” the alleged victims said. The letter was signed by Gloria Branciani, Mirjam Kovac, Sister Samuelle, Vida Bernard and an anonymous alleged victim using the pseudonym “Pia.” The public ridicule and defamation of survivors, coupled with the dicastery’s silence about the cases, the women added, conveys the message that “it is useless to report abuse to ecclesiastical authorities, because nothing happens anyway, no one will pay, and victims will never receive justice.” “Because we, Your Holiness, have lost all trace of justice, and because a trial conducted in oblivion offers no guarantees to anyone — neither to the accused nor to the victims — and is irreconcilable with the very concepts of law, truth, justice, fairness, and mercy that you, Your Holiness, hold dear,” they wrote. Stating that they would not abandon their pursuit of justice “until the gravity of what occurred is acknowledged and the person responsible is punished,” the alleged victims told Pope Leo that they would “like to be considered a resource, not an obstacle.” They also expressed their trust in the pope to exercise his “supreme power of judgment and grace” and to grant their request, which “is that of every abuse victim who seeks the recognition of truth through a fair trial.” “We need the truth, Your Holiness,” the survivors wrote. “But just as we do, the Church needs it profoundly as well.” Read more from @jae_journalist @OSVNews osvnews.com/ahead-of-lourdes…