Bangalore archdiocese in southern India conducted reparation ceremonies on Feb. 28 as police investigated a sacrilegious case of theft of a Monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament from a parish.
Newsroom (01/03/2025 08:37, Gaudium Press) Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore, based in the Karnataka state capital, asked parishes across his archdiocese to observe Feb. 28 as a day of penance and reparation.
“A grave sacrilege has taken place at St. Antony’s Church” in the Uttarhalli area within the city, hardly 12 kilometers south of the city center, said the pastoral decree that the archbishop issued.
It said the sacrilegious act took place on Feb. 25 night when unidentified people “broke into the Adoration chapel and stole Monstrance containing Blessed Sacrament.”
The case was reported to police soon, but they are yet to trace “the stolen Monstrance or the sacred Species…We fear that the Holy Eucharist has been desecrated,” his letter said.
Father Cyril Victor Joseph, communication director in the archdiocese, said that they “suspect someone has stolen the Monstrance, seeing its golden color, mistaking it for gold.”
“There is no vandalism in the Church, and therefore, we as of now rule out any possibility of any communal angle in the incident,” Father Joseph stated.
He said the police may eventually locate the Monstrance, but “the stolen Eucharist and its desecration is a cause of pain for all of us.”
“We are praying, seeking reparation for the sacrilege,” he said.
Although Church officials have ruled out religious hate in the crime, some Christian leaders said the state continues to witness several targeted attacks against Christian institutions and places of worship, mostly from right-wing Hindu groups on the alleged charges of religious conversion.
The state recorded 52 incidents of attacks against Christians and their institutions in 2024, according to data released by the United Christian Forum, an ecumenical body recording persecution against Christians in India.
Christians make up less than 2 percent of more than 60 million people in Karnataka state, and the majority of them are Hindus.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCAN News
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