Days after deadly attack, Polish priest returns to altar preaching forgiveness

Father Adrian Mantykiewicz returned to celebrate Mass at the Benedictine sisters' abbey in Jaroslaw on Sept. 26, two days after a knife attack at the abbey killed one priest. During the homily, Father Mantykiewicz stated that he and the deceased priests, Father Marek Pienkowski and Father Stanislaw Zbojniewicz, forgive the attacker. He asked the community to pray for the attacker's conversion.

The Sept. 24 attack involved five people being stabbed. Father Stanislaw Zbojniewicz died from his injuries, while Father Marek Pienkowski remained in serious but stable condition in the hospital as of Sept. 25. Father Mantykiewicz was treated and released the same day as the attack.

The suspect is a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen. Father Mantykiewicz urged people not to blame Ukrainians living in Poland for the crime, noting that the evil was committed by a specific person rather than a nation.