Shyrokoradiuk was born into a Polish Roman-Catholic family in Kornachivka (Kornaczówka), Yarmolyntsi Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, on 23 June 1956.

He graduated from a railway college in Zdolbuniv, performed his compulsory service in the Soviet Army from 1974 to 1976, and worked in factories.

[1] In 1980 he entered the Major Theological Seminary in Riga, Latvia, and one year later, he clandestinely joined the Franciscans.

[2] As Catholic bishop of Odesa, Shyrokoradiuk found his diocese heavily affected by the war and spoke out against the Russian invasion.

Under his direction the Church helped provide humanitarian assistance and places of safety for refugees and children.