Father Adrian Mantykiewicz delivers homily after convent attack

Father Adrian Mantykiewicz called for love and forgiveness during a homily on Sept. 26 at the Benedictine Abbey in Jarosław, Poland. Mantykiewicz spoke to the congregation while wearing a bandage for head injuries sustained during a mass stabbing at the convent two days earlier.

The attack, which resulted in the death of Father Stanislaw Zbojniewicz, led to the arrest of a 31-year-old Ukrainian man. Father Marek Pienkowski remains in serious condition in the hospital following the incident. Mantykiewicz urged the community to overcome the evil committed at the abbey with goodness and asked the congregation to forgive the perpetrator.

According to a transcript published by the news website DEON.pl, Mantykiewicz told the people not to blame the Ukrainian nation for the attack. He noted that the convent near the Ukrainian border has supported many people fleeing the war between Russia and Ukraine, and emphasized that the violence was the act of a single individual rather than a nation.