Injured Polish priest urges ‘love,’ ‘forgiveness’ after deadly knife attack on convent

A Polish priest who was injured in a deadly mass stabbing attack on a convent in southeast Poland last week called for “love” and “forgiveness” as he delivered his Saturday evening homily while wearing a bandage around his head, which remained visibly bruised.

“No matter what happened, we must overcome the evil that happened here, in our abbey, with goodness, love, and forgiveness,” Father Adrian Mantykiewicz told the congregation during his Sept. 26 homily at the Benedictine Abbey in Jarosław, Poland, where the knife attack had occurred two days earlier.

“Therefore, I ask you to forgive, because it has affected all of you,” he said, according to a transcript published by the Polish Jesuit news website DEON.pl.

Police arrested a 31-year-old Ukrainian man for the attack, which killed one priest and sent four other people to the hospital. Father Stanislaw Zbojniewicz died at the hospital from his injuries, and Father Marek Pienkowski remains in serious condition in the hospital.

Mantykiewicz told people not to blame the Ukrainian people because only one single person is responsible for the attack. He noted the convent — which is in a small town near the border with Ukraine — has provided support for many people who fled the Russia-Ukraine war.

“From this place, I also want to ask you not to blame the nation from which the torturer belonged, because the evil was committed by a specific person, a specific person who has a name, a life, and is responsible for his actions,” he said. “Other people did not do this. This was one, unique person.”

Mantykiewicz said he speaks in his own name and in the names of Zbojniewicz and Pienkowski when he says “very emphatically that we forgive and we ask you to pray for us.”

“For prayers for Father Stanislaw [Zbojniewicz], for the peace of his soul, for the health of Father Marek [Pienkowski], who is still fighting for his life in the hospital, and for me, that I may return to my duties as soon as possible and continue to serve you here,” he said.

The priest also asked people to pray for the attacker, specifically for “the grace of conversion,” saying “he needs this prayer the most.” He asked “not to respond to evil with evil but with love, support, understanding, and care” and to respect all people in the abbey, in the community, and in the country, including respect for Ukrainian refugees.

Mantykiewicz said in his homily that “this sermon is difficult for me,” but he said first and foremost, “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, I am a disciple of my Master, I am a disciple of my Lord, and Christ teaches me to love.”

“Love that allowed itself to be crucified,” he said. “Love that gave its life for its enemies. Such is my Lord and Master. And I am his servant.”

According to prosecutors, a man identified as Ihor M. faced charges for the attack. According to a statement, the investigation is ongoing, but he was charged with murder, attempted murder, and causing serious injury to victims.

The suspect is receiving medical care, and prosecutors requested a public defender for him. He was appointed a Ukrainian translator.