Moscow, September 20, 2011
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The city of Moscow decided the fate of the shelter by arbitrage. On February 5, 2010, the city satisfied a claim made by the prefecture requiring the Mother Teresa Society "Missionaries of Mercy" to tear down their one-storey building and attic level of a two-storey building ruled as "willful construction" back in 2008.
In recognition of the importance of such charitable work, many organizations in Moscow had applied to the Moscow municipal government and presidential administration requesting assistance for the Sisters of Mother Teresa in reaching an agreement. Representatives of the Vatican in the Russian Federation had also made persistent requests for the same. The department of social defense of the city of Moscow highly regarded the society's work, and promised to support it. The Public Chamber of the Russian Federation also agreed to help resolve the conflict.
The sisters have especially expressed their thanks to the Russian Orthodox Church. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), chairman of the Department for External Church Relations had also requested support for the sisters.
Nevertheless, these requests brought no results. The sisters received contradictory answers and orders from the local authorities, which could not have enabled them to understand the official position on the matter, reports internet site Tatianin Den'.
The sisterhood's attorney, Yanina Lazovskaya, stressed that, "The court ruled against the sisters. Then, in the 1990s, they received all the necessary permits, and built their buildings. However, out of their naivety and lack of knowledge, the sisters did not [legally] bring their building into operation. And no one consulted them. So they began quietly working and worked for so many years. And in this lies the whole problem—now there are no deeds of operation for the building. That is all there is to it."
